"tarriwag", 1784 (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, I know "tallywhacker" only as a literary term.

BTW, is "peterweter" used only in BE? I haven't heard it since I was a
child in Texas, where it was used primarily, if not only, by mothers,
aunts, and little boys as a replacement for "penis." Older boys and
men use both "peter" and "dick," with the latter being the "standard."

-Wilson

On Jan 23, 2008 10:52 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "tarriwag", 1784 (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Tallywhacker" is indeed more frequent.
>
>   JL
> "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
> Subject: Re: "tarriwag", 1784 (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
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                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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