"oral sex" among the Victorians + postil(l)ion

[neil]

on 1/4/06 6:20 PM, Chris Waigl at cwaigl at FREE.FR wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Chris Waigl <cwaigl at FREE.FR>
> Organization: sadly lacking
> Subject:      Re: "oral sex" among the Victorians
>
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> On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 12:51:25 -0500, George Thompson typed:
>
>> But to our muttons.  The OED's earliest citiation for "oral sex" is
>> 1959, from the American Journal of Sociology.  A page of this album
>> that holds 5 images, one, cut from some source, showing 2 fully
>> clothed people kissing, and 4 obscene photos.  One of the photos has
>> been cut to remove all the background that had surrounded the
>> figures.  A corner of the remaining image is outlined with the
>> words "oral sex", written 3 times.  The phrase appears again a bit
>> to the left of the photo: an ornamental "O", the rest handwritten.
>> Also connected with this particular photograph is the
>> word "postillionage".  (p. 107)
>
> In French, _postillonner_ (v.) and _postillonnage_ (n.) mean the
> involuntary action of projecting droplets of saliva while speaking. I
> can't find any erotic usage, though.

So says Barrere's "Argot and Slang', Chiswick Press, 1887.

However, Alfred Delvau's 'Dictionnaire Erotique Moderne', published under
the pseudonym of Louis  De Landes in 1861 has [excuse lack of accents]:

POSTILLION (Faire). Introduire le doigt, ordinairement l'index, dans le
derriere d'une femme ou d'un homme, pendant l'acte veberien, pour doubler la
jouissance.

One appreciates the precision of 'l'index' [in spite of legman's 'middle
finger -- see below] and the inclusiveness of 'ou d'un homme'.

--Neil Crawford
>
> But the OED has:
>
> postil(l)ion, v.
> slang.
> trans. To insert and manipulate a finger in the anus of (a sexual
> partner) as a means of sexual excitement. Hence postil(l)ioning
> vbl. n. 1888 tr. Tableaux Vivants xi. 95 The fair houri was
> postillioning me. 1969 G. LEGMAN Oragenitalism i. 90 Postillioning
> can best be done by the middle finger
>
> Chris Waigl
> the things I learn here