"lewd walking"

[Mark Mandel]

We lived for many years in Framingham, Mass., where mny wife was an memeber
of the elected Town Meeting. She points out to me that there may well have
once been a charge of "lewd walking" on the books, that it could have been
removed in a cleanup some years ago, and that the person making the arrest
was unaware of the change. Or maybe it counts as an older name for the same
behavior. There have been a number of such antiquated loaws, some with
now-quaint names, on the books of the Commonwealth, though none spring to
this weary mind. (11:46 pm)

m a m

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 3:52 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> A Taunton, Mass., city councilor was arrested today for (as I heard
> it on the TV broadcast) "lewd walking".  I wonder how long that
> statute has been in the books of the Bay Colony.
>
> Disappointingly, the TV station's on-line news item has a different
> report -- he is "facing charges of lewd and lascivious behavior."
> http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO141564/
>
> There the description of the offending act is "As the two men walked
> down a path, police said Barbour asked the officer to expose himself.
> Officers then made the arrest.  Barbour is facing charges of lewd and
> lascivious behavior."  Perhaps some superior officer decided "lewd
> walking" would be hard to prove, and changed the charge.
>
> I did not find a crime of "lewd walking" in the Massachusetts General Laws,
> at
> http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/mgllink.htm
> but I was amused to see what they had to say about "lewd" in other
> contexts.
>
> Joel
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org