Use of the word m=?ISO-8859-1?B?6Q==?=nages

[Bob Love]

Regarding the diary entry, it is handwritten in a journal on the sidemargins
of a pocket diary, so it is extremely small, cramped writing and also hard
to make out.
Bob


On 1/30/04 9:55 PM, "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:

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>>> "But twice she asked for ménages from him; wh. I obtained
>>>
>>> clandestinely, twice visiting Nyack without St.'s knowing."
>>>
>>> Now, the person in Nyack from whom the diary writer was to obtain the
>>> menages from is a kind of self tutored doctor and yoga instructor who was
>>> known to offer birth control and abortions at his place in the 1920s. He was
>>> also big on internal cleansing and that sort of thing, too.
>>>
>>> Does that help?
>>>
>>> Thanks again.
>>> Bob Love
>> It helps, although I think it's still hard to know exactly what was going on.
>>
>> I think it's a reasonable speculation that "ménage" translates
>> literally here as 'household device' (possibly influenced by the
>> English cognate "manage"), and is used here as a euphemism for the
>> particular household device that dare not speak its name.
>> Unfortunately for my speculation, I can't find any evidence that
>> "ménage" was used by English speakers to refer generally to a
>> household device (= 'something that helps one manage').
>>
>> Any other speculations or, dare I say, evidence for or against?
>
> Wild speculation: "Me'nage" might be a malapropism/error for "me'lange",
> referring to a compounded potion (maybe a contraceptive or abortifacient or
> something similarly calling for discretion).
>
> Question: Is/was the diary handwritten? How legibly?
>
> -- Doug Wilson

Robert Love
Columbia University
Graduate School of Journalism
2950 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
bob.love at verizon.net