"Hoop her barrel"?

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Tue Mar 16 20:43:15 UTC 2010


 From another list, a close variant of the verses in Charles Coffey's
play, The Devil to Pay (1731).

>Here's another, earlier example, from a little song early in act I
>of Jevon's 1686 The Devil of a Wife; or, A Comical Transformation:
>
>He that has the best Wife,
>She's the Burthen of his Life,
>But for her that will Scold and will Quarrel;
>Let him cut her short
>Of her Meat and her Sport,
>And ten times a day hoop her Barrel.
>
>Hooping her barrel being the opposite of "Sport," I don't see too
>much sexual double entendre in this one.

Joel

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