Pink geography (was: hungarian and pink currency)
Douglas G. Wilson
douglas at NB.NET
Mon Sep 25 20:41:14 UTC 2000
>At 8:52 PM +0100 9/25/00, Lynne Murphy wrote:
>>>BUM BAG, pg. 53, col. 3. Americans call it "fanny pack."
>>
>>And the Brits are quite horrified/amused that the Americans call it that.
>
>Not to mention the fact that we (as a rule) don't know why Cleland
>would have written his novel about "Fanny Hill" (either that, or we
>think we know but we get the geography wrong).
Compare "front bottom" or "front bum" (non-US euphemism) for the female
genitals, in Thorne's slang dictionary for example.
Spears' dictionary for example lists "fancy-bit" = "female genitals" (along
with "fancy woman" = "prostitute"), from the 18th century, perhaps a
precursor or cousin of "fanny" in the British sense?
-- Doug Wilson
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