"bulldyke" (Rush Van Dyke?)

[Rick H Kennerly]

|o|
|o| They all sound pretty ludicrous to me.
|o|

Unlike the penis, we do not seem to have this subject in hand.

Even the bulldog ties seem pretty weak, which I take as some indication how
thoroughly modern suburban electronic culture has lost touch with common
barnyard associations so familiar to our not so distant rural ancestors (not
to mention the ancients--a bull was one of Zeus' favorite lustful guises),
when bulls ruled the paddocks and bulls were symbols of authority,
masculinity, sexual prowess, and aggressiveness.  The British John Bull
(Uncle Sam's counterpart), bull in a china shop, and TR's Bull Moose party
come to mind.

Frankly,  the word dyke in bull dyke is the tougher of the two to winnow
out.  Where did it come from and when was it first used in this sense?

My first exposure to the word dyke at all was in the late 60s at some sort
of parade in San Francisco where one motorcycle unit carried a banner
proclaiming themselves Dykes on Bykes.

rhk