"Hoop her barrel"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Barrel" means torso. (Horses have "barrels.") To "hoop" that kind of barrel
would be to flog it with a belt that might wrap around like a hoop round a
barrel.

I guess you had to be there. To see the humor, I mean. If there is any.

JL

On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 4:43 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      "Hoop her barrel"?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  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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