when "intercourse" got funny

[Laurence Horn]

>I think I can narrow it down to the 1880s.  The change in
>connotations seems to have been fairly dramatic.  I did a Westlaw
>search, and here is a random selection of quotes using "intercourse"
>in legal opinions in 1879:
>
>
>"marks the course the United States pursues towards the nations with
>which they have intercourse
><http://web2.westlaw.com/result/result.aspx?referenceposition=SR%3b7673&sv=Split&fn=_top&n=5&vr=2.0&sskey=CLID_SSSA484022299&rs=WLW6.09&ss=CNT&referencepositiontype=T&eq=search&db=allcases-old&cnt=DOC&rlt=CLID_QRYRLT494022299&srch=TRUE&rp=%2fsearch%2fdefault.wl&scxt=WL&cfid=1&docsample=False&rltdb=CLID_DB273222299&blinkedcitelist=False&origin=Search&mt=Westlaw&service=Search&query=INTERCOURSE+%26+DA(BEF+1880)&method=TNC>
>"

suggesting that the imperialist U.S. foreign policy of the late
nineteenth century may have arisen from a semantic reanalysis...

LH

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