when "intercourse" got funny

[Baker, John]

Well, we don't know what was being said in, say, men's clubs at the time.  But we can tell from this that any snickering in 1879 would have been adolescent and annoying, from people choosing to laugh at a common and accepted word just because, in some contexts, it could have a sexual meaning.  By 1889, somehow the sexual meaning had become dominant.  Once that happened, the word became potentially humorous or even ambiguous.  One would expect to see avoidance, and that is just what we do see:  Nonsexual "intercourse" is already unusual in 1889.
 
Now that we know when it happened, the question remains as to how and why it happened.  The best I can do is that there was a mild loosening (nothing comparable to the "First Sexual Revolution," but noticeable) in public demeanor in the later years of the 19th century, and it may have been this that allowed a polite term for sex to become common.  Prior to then, it is my impression that the topic was avoided whenever possible, and when it could not be avoided, a circumlocution was preferred.
 
BTW, I apologize for the embedded Westlaw links, which are useless to anyone who does not have a Westlaw account.  I did not realize they would show up when I cut and pasted these quotes.
 
 
John Baker
 

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Sat 9/30/2006 12:42 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: when "intercourse" got funny



Very interesting, John.  If many people were snickering by 1890, an annoying  minority presumably started years earlier.

  But they may have been secret snickerers. Sex was so taboo in polite conversation before 1920, that I suppose many people would refrain from showing their amusement at such words lest it be thought they were degenerates.  And some of them would keep on using them in writing, persuaded that any potential double-entendre should be opposed because nonsexual "intercourse," e.g., was an established and correct sense.  In fact, "the" correct sense.

  What I'm saying is, they thought the words were funny, but decorum and a strict Victorian understanding of "self-respect" may have kept them from letting on until the "First Sexual Revolution" in the 1920s.

  JL

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