Genitalia

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:16 PM -0400 9/27/00, Bill Smith wrote:
>         This is indeed linguistic research, seeking answers of the type that
>I received for "possible."  That is why I ask for the pronunciation of
>"nishi."  If it is [niSI], a likely source is French "niche."  If it is
>[nISI], "knish" is the likely candidate (but see below).
>         As always in linguistics, one answer means at least two new questions:
>                 Is "possible" ever used for "genitals" except in the context
>of "as far as possible"?
>                 Is there a word for terms like "possible" that euphemize (is
>that a word?) by making a joke?

This reminds me a bit of the case of "vasistas", the French word for
transom, which is generally assumed to have come about through
someone mistaking the illocutionary point of "Was ist das?"

>                 What would "Gladys Spiegelman" be rhyming slang for?
>         I don't find "connie" transparent, unless it has remained buried for
>a hundred years (older "cunny")

"cunny"--besides being powerful enough to turn all of the
bunny-designating conies into rabbits except for Coney Island whose
pronunciation changed to rhyme with 'phoney' instead of the original
'money', 'honey'--is still widely used or at least understood in much
of the English-speaking world.   I see Doug Wilson also responded to
this point, but I just wanted to add that given the fact that taboo
avoidance is such a robust phenomenon even now (as when the
fourth-grade teacher in Connecticut was disciplined two years ago for
her observation that when you say "ASSUME" you make an ASS of U and
ME, or the municipal official in Washington temporarily fired for
saying his staff would have to be niggardly with their funds), I find
it extremely plausible that "coney" would have been replaced by
"rabbit", for the same reason that Fr. "connil" was by "lapin".

larry