"stinkfinger"

[Laurence Horn]

>  >From the OED On Line:
>
>"*To play at *stinkfinger*,..to grope a woman."
>
>Is this really all that "to play at stinkfinger" means to white people?!

depends on what one understands by "grope"

>Of course, it could be simply the case that "correcting" BE [stEiNkfEiN@]
>to "stinkfinger" in spelling does not mean that its meaning is necessarily
>the
>same as that of stinkfinger. Or, perhaps, the problem is due to my
>interpreting
>"to grope a woman" to mean merely "to cop a feel."

right; in this context, "grope" would have to be read as a
hypereuphemism.  Besides which, to me "grope" implies unwillingness
on the part of the gropee, while "play at stinkfinger" doesn't.  Of
course I'm talking passive knowledge of these lexical items...

L

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