Bad Girls speak

[Charles Doyle]

>From the modern proverbs files:

<< It's not the size of the boat (ship) but the motion of the ocean (that matters).  1968  Charlie Cobb, "Ain't That a Groove?" (a prose poem) in _Black Fire_, edited by LeRoi Jones and Larry Neal (New York:  William Morrow) 519:  "Reply to whitey taken from words of black Atlanta DJ:  'It ain’t the size of the ship / that makes the waves / it's / the . . . / motion of the ocean."  Prahlad (1996) 246-47. In the quoted example, the application of the saying is non-sexual, referring to political struggle; currently, however, the saying most often refers to male sexual proficiency in satisfying a woman.  Cf. "SIZE doesn't matter." >>

--Charlie



---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:00:16 -0500
>From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> (on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>)>

>Folklorists & Freudians: At Speed Dating, Natalie asks prospective boyfriends, without introductory context, "Which do you think is more important? The size of the boat, or the motion of the ocean?"  As she explains to her mansionmates later, "If he says the size of the boat, it means he has a tiny penis."
>
>Google Groups has the question from 1994, but a (very) cursory search doesn't find any exx. of Natalie's depth-psychology analysis.  There must be some though.
>
>JL

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