"shoot" = " have a (male) orgasm, 'come' " in 1772?

[Jonathan Lighter]

That's how I read it.  If "p-----e" is "private," as it almost has to
be "b------e" for "backside" seems extremely likely: less graphic, perhaps,
for courtroom use  than the alternatives.

BTW, I searched the entire Old Bailey site a few years back and sent Jesse
and the OED all the slangy items I could pry out.

There was a lot less than one might have expected.


JL



On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 11:47 AM, Baker, John M. <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John M." <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "shoot" = " have a (male) orgasm, 'come' " in 1772?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>        And is "y - d" "yard"?  If so, then the next page has the
> strange passage, "I went into the yard to make water, he came into the
> yard while I was making water, took hold of my y - d, and began to work
> it with his hand."  There is also a reference to "p - e parts";
> "private"?
>
>        I confess that the logic of this kind of censorship sometimes
> escapes me.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 10:25 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "shoot" = " have a (male) orgasm, 'come' " in 1772?
>
> It's "spend" and "spent."
>
> Long esses and all that.
>
> See original page here:
> http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/images.jsp?doc=177209090019
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Jul 2, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      "shoot" = " have a (male) orgasm, 'come' " in 1772?
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------
> >
> > "f--d" as an 18th-century euphemism?  Not!  But perhaps "shot"
> > ("shoot", intr., past tense) for " have a (male) orgasm, 'come' ",
> > either postdates c1470 or antedates 1879-80?
> >
> > In the same Old Bailey case from which Fred reported "sucked it"
> > [1772 _Old Bailey Proceedings_ 9 Sept. (www.londonlives.org)], there
> > is a deposition that is transcribed by "London Lives" as:
> >
> > "after he came there he worked his y - d till he made it f - d in his
> > hand;"
> >
> > But if one digs a little deeper, first there is a later deposition
> > transcribed as:
> >
> > "that then he put his hand into his breeches, and got hold of his y -
> > d; that then he worked his y - d till he s - t in his hand".
> >
> > And then one sees that the typeset "Old Bailey Proceedings" has a
> > long-s in both instances.
> >
> > Page 355 has:
> >
> > "Brittles: No; and when he was drinking then he asked him to go out
> > into the backyard; that he went out to make water, and the man
> > followed him, put his hand in his breeches, and pulled out his y--d
> > ... and so he pushed onward to the vault; that after he came there he
> > worked his y--d tll he made it s -- d in his hand ..."
> >
> > Page 366 has:
> >
> > "... then he worked his y--d till he s--t in his hand ..."
> >
> > I suppose "s -- t" is "shot", from "shoot, v." sense "[1.] {dag}e. Of
> > fluids, tears, blood, etc.: To issue suddenly, stream out. Obs.",
> > although the OED's only two cites are c1470.  Or perhaps sense 18,
> > for which there is "[18.]  e. intr. To ejaculate; orig. in phr. to
> > shoot one's roe. slang.', but the earliest OED quotation there is
> > 1879-80.  (Searching through this long entry was not fun.)
> >
> > But what is "s -- d"?
> >
> > Joel
>
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