jump = copulate with?

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

And of course "jumping the broomstick" in "Roots."  Also, btw, in the beginning of his first term as president, Bill Clinton complained about people criticizing his wife.  But he phrased it as "jumping my wife," and one columnist noted briefly a day or two later that the wording was a bit odd..

Gerald Cohen

> ----------
> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of James A. Landau
> Sent:         Thursday, November 17, 2005 7:46 PM
>
> This suggestion sounds doubtful to me:  there seems to be an ancient  custom of a couple performing their wedding by jumping over an object  together.
> Then, if "to jump" means "to wed", further sexual meanings are  not impossible.
>
> I have heard of this custom exactly twice, both times in science fiction novels.  One was Heinlein's _Glory Road_ and the other was Bujold's _The Hallowed Hunt_.  In the first case the object jumped over was a sword and  in the second a flagstaff---both being obvious phallic symbols for those to  whom phallic symbols are obvious.
>
> Was Wilson Gray making or overlooking a play on words when he juxtaposed "rams...jumping sheep" and "two ships passing in the night"?
>
>          - James A.  Landau
>
>
>