"Fanny" in US English (1922)

[Joel S. Berson]

At 2/10/2007 06:00 PM, you wrote:
>This one looks pretty solid, although it's from Google Books:
>
>----------
>
>Noel Coward, _Terribly Intimate Portraits_ (Boni and Liveright, New York,
>1922): p. 196:
>
>[Story: "Ah! Ah! Queen of the Rude Islands"]
>
><<Ah! Ah!'s childhood was spent running completely wild with her three
>sisters "Beaoui" (meaning "Heavens Above"), "Sua-sua" (meaning "Shut your
>Face") and young "Goop" (meaning in American "Park your Fanny" and in
>English, "Sit Down").>>

So what did Noel mean when he wrote (OED2):

1930 N. Coward Private Lives i, You'd fallen on your fanny a few
moments before.

since he was English?  It must have meant fallen face first. :-)

Joel

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