More on "punk"/spunk

[Wilson Gray]

On Jun 14, 2005, at 6:17 PM, neil wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       neil <neil at TYPOG.CO.UK>
> Subject:      Re: More on "punk"/spunk
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> on 14/6/05 11:00 pm, Wilson Gray at wilson.gray at RCN.COM wrote:
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: More on "punk"
>>
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>> On Jun 14, 2005, at 3:57 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>
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>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Re: More on "punk"
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>>> At 12:17 PM -0700 6/14/05, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>> "Punk" is another one of those homosexual words that originally
>>>> referred to women.
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>>
>>> specifically = 'harlot' (so Farmer & Henley), e.g in Measure for
>>> Measure (v.i):
>>>
>>> She may be a punk, for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor
>>> wife.
>>>
>>> Similarly Johnson, Chapman, Congreve, etc.
>>>
>>> Larry
>>
>> "Punk" is used as a word for "prostitute" in the book, "My Secret
>> Life," by "Walter." In an earlier discussion of "punk," I have a vague
>> memory of someone suggesting or stating that "My Secret Life" is, in
>> some sense, not real. FWIW, Harvard owns one partial and one complete
>> copy of the original, actual, published-in-The-Netherlands version of
>> this work. Of course, the comment may have been that MSL is fiction
>> and
>> not autobiography. That is certainly a possibility and I have no
>> opinion on that.
>>
>> BTW, in Britspeak, does "spunk" still mean "semen"?
>>
>> -Wilson Gray
>>
> Oh yes. As both noun, as well as verb = ejaculate.
>
> Of course, historical 'literary' usage (presumably male authored) also
> has
> it as vaginal sexual secretions:
>
> 'Then I beheld her splendid cunt in all its magnificence of size and
> hairiness. I sank on my knees and glued my lips to the oozing
> entrance, for
> she was one who spent profusely, her cunt had the true delicious
> odour, and
> her spunk was thick and glutinous for a woman.'
> --Anon, 'The Romance of Lust', London, 1873-76 [Grove press, NY, 1968,
> 410]
>
> and also as to orgasm (f):
>
> 'Then with a shuddering groan, her hands slowed between her thighs and
> with
> convulsive kicks she too spunked down her warm thighs.'
> --Pearson groves, 'Juvenile lead', Pall Mall Press, Paris, 1957 [page
> number
> lost]
>
> --Neil Crawford
>

Hm. Wonder whether I can get to the neighborhood D[irty]B[ook]S[tore]
before it closes.

-Wilson Gray