Slang: pitch a tent connection to Pitch-A-Tent record label (1986)

[Garson O'Toole]

The phrase "pitch a tent" is in some slang dictionaries: New
Partridge, Cassell's. The available Historical Dictionary of American
Slang stops at O.

The earliest date of appearance I find given in a dictionary is
"1990s+". Below is evidence that the record label name Pitch-A-Tent
(existing by 1986) was chosen with knowledge of the slang expression.

The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (2006):
pitch a tent: to have an erection US
- Don R. McCreary (editor), Dawg Speak 2001
http://books.google.com/books?id=mAdUqLrKw4YC&q=%22pitch+a+tent%22#v=snippet&

Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (2005):
Pitch a tent (in one's shorts) v. [1990s+] (orig US) to get an erection.
http://books.google.com/books?id=haEfq-nKqjgC&q=pitch-a-tent#v=snippet&


Cite: Circa 1988, Musician, Page 97, Issues 117-122, Amordian Press.
(Google Books snippet view; Unverified; Date, page, and text may be
inaccurate)

Pitch-A-Tent Records (the name derives from the un-hippie-esque
phrase, "she makes me want to pitch a tent in my pants") was born,
Lowery says, "kind of out of necessity: No one was really interested
in putting out another record by us right then.

http://books.google.com/books?id=mT1LAAAAYAAJ&q=%22name+derives%22#search_anchor


Cite: 2003, The Rough Guide to Rock 3rd Edition editor Peter Buckley,
Camper Van Beethoven, Page 166, Rough Guides. (Google Books limited
view)

For all the plaudits, sales were not huge, and Rough Trade were
cautious about putting out another album too soon, so CAMPER VAN
BEETHOVEN II & III (1986) emerged as an independent release on the
band's own label, Pitch-A-Tent (a name derived from the phrase 'she
makes me want to pitch-a-tent in my pants').

http://books.google.com/books?id=haEfq-nKqjgC&q=pitch-a-tent#v=snippet&


On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 7:07 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: another euphemism
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I heard "go comando" used ca.1992 by a woman on some after-11:00p.m.
> cable-TV dating show in conjunction with the phrase, "pitch a tent."
> She spoke to the effect that that she preferred men who _went
> commando_ because she liked knowing it when she had caused a man to
> _pitch a tent_.
>
> I didn't find anything datable WRT the latter phrase - Google only
> quotes the undated UD. ...

Jim Parish wrote
> For what it's worth, I remember my mother using it, probably around 1970. (The incident
> I'm thinking of can't be earlier than that, and can't be later than 1975, when I left home.)
>
> Jim Parish

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