Who's diddling and how?

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:50 AM -0700 7/15/08, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>Genesis 38:8-9 (KJV;
>http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2038:8-38:10;&version=9;)
>
>And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry
>her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
>
>And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass,
>when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the
>ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
>
>BB

at which God got quite irate--because every, well, you know...
Cf. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2039011370929908773&q=&hl=en

LH

>
>On Jul 15, 2008, at 8:38 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
>>
>>Benjamin Barrett supplies the quotation:
>>
>>"_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."
>>
>>Whoa! My initial interpretation was that he lay down on the ground and
>>then fucked it [i.e, the ground, the soil, the dirt, the very earth]!
>>That's a heavy picture to put into someone's mind. I was wondering
>>whether there was grass or weeds, bare earth, sand, whether he had
>>skinned his dork (in the skinned-knee sense, not the skinned-back
>>sense), etc.
>>
>>-Wilson
>>
>>On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 5:15 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com
>>>  wrote:
>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>>>Subject:      Who's diddling and how?
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>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
>>>
>
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