benny/HDAS

[James C Stalker]

Do you ever think,in the quiet hours of morning, "I've forgotten more than.
. .ever knew"?

Jim

Jonathan Lighter writes:

> Thanks for the kind words, Neil.  But do you have copies in your car as well?  Red lights, stop signs, and traffic jams afford numerous opportunities to consult and peruse.
>
> As for the Sanders cite with the meaning "condom."  "Benny," as HDAS also observes, was once not uncommon as a slang term for an overcoat (cf. much earlier "Benjamin," a greatcoat).   Thus the transfer to "condom" (cf. syn."raincoat").
>
> JL
>
>
> neil <neil at TYPOG.CO.UK> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: neil
> Subject: Re: benny/HDAS
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Of course, I am a privileged householder who has both volumes of HDAS, an
> indispensable resource of recondite knowledge, meticulously researched (why,
> oh why, did RH give up on the most important slang survey in our life
> time?).
>
> And now to lower the tone, as some of you who recognise my postings may
> expect:
>
> Benny =- condom
>
> "Ed, that thing you put on - will that keep me from having a baby?" -- "The
> benny? Sure - unless someone sneaked in here and poked a hole in it."
> --Lawrence Sanders, 'The Dream Lover', 1978 [New English Library, London,
> 1986, 206]
>
> benny = sexually aroused (m)
>
> 'The throbbing of the penis I have heard referred to as 'clocky', 'ticky' or
> 'benny' (obvious references to the ticking of a clock).'
> --J.W., 'The Language of mastirbation', in 'The Sex Life Letters (Harold &
> Ruth greenwald, eds), Grafton books, London, 1974, 265
>
> --Neil Crawford
>
>
> on 15/6/05 9:07 pm, Jonathan Lighter at wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>> Subject: Re: benny?
>>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --> -
>>
>> "Benny" has been in use for several decades as a slang term for "a benefit."
>>
>> HDAS has an illuminating entry. All households should own at least one copy
>> of the two volumes that have appeared.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> Rachel Shuttlesworth wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Rachel Shuttlesworth
>> Subject: benny?
>>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --> -
>>
>> From a story in the Chicago Tribune, located at
>> http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0506150258jun15,1,6069459.st
>> ory?page=2
>>
>> "We don't really talk about healthy anywhere in our restaurant,"
>> Hirshberg said. "That's very intentional. Not because it isn't. We want
>> them to enjoy the food for the food, and then to feel that health is a
>> benny."
>>
>> I can find "benny" in the OED meaning overcoat and Benzedrine. Trying to
>> find other examples of this usage online brings up Benny's Hinn, Hill,
>> Goodman, etc. I found one case of British slang where "benny" is defined
>> as losing one's temper
>> (http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/fullmonty/def/benny.htm). What is its
>> meaning above? Is it being used to mean "added benefit" or something else?
>>
>> --
>> ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
>>
>> Dr. Rachel E. Shuttlesworth
>> CLIR Post-Doctoral Fellow
>> University of Alabama Libraries
>> Box 870266, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0266
>> Office: 205.348.4655/ Fax:205.348.8833
>> rachel.e.shuttlesworth at ua.edu
>>
>>
>
>
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James C. Stalker
Department of English
Michigan State University