Who's diddling and how?

[Wilson Gray]

I think that it was into the '80's before I began to cease to
understand "she fucked him" as other than nonsense or clumsy metaphor.
And I still feel that it's really simply another example of "fade
logic" (here I pun on the phrase, "spade logic," that a white friend
of mine customarily uses, apparently without giving it a second
thought, to describe the thought processes of non-academic blacks; the
real opposite of "fade" is "shade," "spade" generally having only its
literal meaning in blackspeak), pretending that there's equality,
where actually none exists.

IMO:

"She fucked him [either by giving him some or metaphorically, though
the latter sense is better expressed as 'she fucked over him']."

"He fucked her [if used metaphorically, then the sense is better
expressed as 'he fucked over her']."

-Wilson

On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 7:41 AM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Who's diddling and how?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I can well remember a time--in my callow late youth, in a way more benighted time--when it sounded odd to me (even downright ungrammatical) if I heard "She fucked him" instead of the more normal (perhaps divinely ordained) "He fucked her."
>
> Also, I once remarked that the locution "He was masturbating himself" seems redundant, and I was sharply reproved for my naivete and lack of imagination. Guilty as charged . . . .
>
> --Charlie
> _____________________________________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
>>Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:13:21 +0000
>>From: ronbutters at AOL.COM
>>Subject: Re: Who's diddling and how?
>>
>>It seems fair to conclude that "diddle" means 'fuck'--one could substitute "fuck" in all of these uses and the meaning would be uunchanged.
>>
>>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>>
>>Date:         Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:15:20
>>
>>Just as a forewarning, there are some pretty X-rated citations below.
>>
>>The AHD4's definitions of diddle include:
>>
>>1. to jerk up and down or back and forth
>>2. vulgar slang
>>a. to have intercourse with (a woman)
>>b. to practice masturbation upon
>>
>>My concern is  the relevance of "(a woman)". Generally, I take this
>>sort of definition to be a remnant of older heterocentrist definitions
>>and intended to mean "to play the active part in sexual intercourse",
>>but it seems that not even that is adequate:
>>
>>-----
>>The Ball of Kirriemuir (http://www.turoks.net/Bordello/TheBallOfKirriemuir.htm
>>) provides 17 examples of diddle:
>>
>>1. The village glazier he was there, with his prick of glass
>>He diddled 'em in their cunnys, and also in the ass!
>>
>>1. the ladies wouldna have 'em, so they diddled dogs and trees!
>>
>>2. The old fishmonger he was there, a dirty stinkin sod
>>He never got a rise that night, so he diddled 'em with a cod!
>>
>>3. Clan MacChluarain they were there, chasin' round the Keep
>>And every single man of them buggerin' a sheep!
>>
>>(insert name) had a gerbil, he diddled it very well
>>He didn't wrap it in duct tape: he blew it all to hell!
>>
>>4. (Insert name), she was there, and she is past eighteen;
>>She is a rapier fighter, so she diddled Florentine!
>>
>>5. Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean,
>>So she did the Fubba-Wubbas, while he diddled a Marine...!
>>-----
>>
>>I think this covers just about every male/female/animal pairing
>>possibility, demonstrating that diddle is not limited to just a man
>>having intercourse with a woman. And Wiktionary agrees, saying "to
>>have sex with".
>>
>>-----
>>Also, in Letters to Penthouse X (http://tinyurl.com/6feo6h, page 131,
>>2000), there's "cockhead...as she diddled her clit with it." While
>>this appears more related to definition 1 than 2, there are these as
>>well, which hint to the development of definitions 2 from 1:
>>
>>6. She diddled herself [with a baster].
>>(The Sperm in Amy Lowe's Frig, by Roberta Price, http://www.prisoners.com/amysperm.html)
>>
>>7. As she diddled herself with a candle,
>>(Street of the thousand assholes, http://www.odps.org/glossword/index.php?a=term&d=5&t=143)
>>------
>>
>>I have trouble understanding what definition 2b actually means. Does
>>this mean to masturbate and ejaculate on someone? Do you "diddle on/
>>upon" someone? I think this is what Danny Glover's character did in
>>_The Color Purple_ instead of sex, though Whoopi Goldberg's character
>>called it "his business".
>>
>>Wiktionary says "to masturbate (especially of women)".
>>
>>Google has only a few hits for "he diddled on". Of the three citations
>>that seem relevant, only one is available:
>>
>>1. He diddled on the ground and, at long last, looked up and said: let
>>him who has not sinned be the first to cast the first stone at the
>>sinner.
>>I assume he's talking about Onan here, though in the text, Jesus is
>>the antecedent of "he". (What Should be Africans Attitude to Americans
>>War on Terror by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, 19 Oct 2006 http://tinyurl.com/5jxlbq)
>>
>>Okay, no more diddling around. Back to work!
>>BB
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
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.
-----
 -Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org