''The Language of Flowers"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I think Jonathon Green's post is cited here. It's not mine, despite the attribution.

JL

RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: RonButters at AOL.COM
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Re:=20=A0=20=A0=20=A0=20Re:=20''The=20Language=20?
= =?ISO-8859-1?Q?of=20Flowers"?=
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In a message dated 1/9/05 1:31:33 PM, wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM writes:


> I would also suggest that drexel = Yiddish 'dreck' =
> excrement.
>
> As for the 'language of flowers', she, like Tom Dalzell, saw it as a
> reference backwards to Victoriana, rather than presaging the
> handkerchief codes of the 1970s. That said, it may be that both Tom and
> Ron Butters are right; that the 'language of flowers' was that which was
> already in place in other contexts, here adopted/adapted by gay men for
> their own signaling requirements.
>

Jewish men are mentioned several times in the novel, but always very much as
the OTHER. There are no other hints of Yiddish in the book that I can see.
But, given the nature of the bawdy puns in the book, I certain wouldn't rule out
DREXEL < DRECK = 'excrement' -- except that the author does not generally take
such pains to disguise her puns -- I would have expected DREQUE-BEACH rather
than DREXEL-BEACH if that was what she meant.

> I don't know what you mean by "Victoriana." Can you explain that more
> fully? I didn't mean to suggest that I thought the "language of flowers" "was
> already in place in other contexts"--on the contrary, it seems in the context of
> the book to refer indeed to something that gay men made up. I also did not
> mean to imply any direct historical connection with the handkerchief semiotic,
> which was more a convenience than a secret code.
>
I certainly agree that the language of the book appears to be much more 1025
or 1930 than 1910, despite its setting.
>


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