"tarriwag", 1784 (UNCLASSIFIED)

Wed Jan 23 15:38:42 UTC 2008

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

>
>   Dunno about Taylor, but Samuel "Hudibras" Butler (1612-80)
> definitely used it:
>
>   *1680 in Samuel Butler Posthumous Works in Prose and Verse
> (London: R. Smith, G. Strahan, J. Brown, 1715) 23: Old
> Harry's C--piece in the Tower...Whose Tarriwags it held long since.
>
>   Bailey, 1724, defines it (pl.) as "Membra Virilia."  I
> think that is the more usual meaning.  A few additional 18th
> C. exx. are available. The U.S. form, "tarryw[h]acker,"
> always refers to the penis AFAIK.
>
>   JL
>

"Tarrywhacker"?  I've known this one as "tallywhacker" (sometimes
shortened just to "tally") since elementary school.
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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