"rattle" = have sexual intercourse with, 2001

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:31 PM -0500 2/22/11, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 2/22/2011 01:06 PM, Neal Whitman wrote:
>>It shows up in George Macdonald Fraser's "Flashman" novels quite a bit,
>
>Found (probably with the desired meaning!) at least in "Flash for
>Freedom!" (1972), e.g. page 453 in an Everyman's Library collection
>(2010).  Seemingly not in "Flashman" (1969).
>
>>along with "rogering".
>>They were written in the 20th century, set in the 19th.
>
>Does that mean we should find "rattle" in 19th-century books or slang
>dictionaries?  However, my personal memory of  "rogering" is from the
>18th century.
>
>Joel

_ro(d)ger_ is in Farmer & Henley as both a substantive 'the penis' (<
1653, Urquhart's trans. of Rabelais) and a verb "to copulate' (< 1750)

_rattle_ isn't there with any relevant meaning (just 'talk or move
quickly or noisily', 'censure, irritate').  The move from 'move
quickly' to the relevant meaning is certainly plausible enough, but
not yet attested in Victorian times if F&H can be trusted.

LH

>
>
>>Neal
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 11:31 AM
>>Subject: "rattle" = have sexual intercourse with, 2001
>>
>>>---------------------- Information from the mail
>>>header -----------------------
>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>>>Subject:      "rattle" = have sexual intercourse with, 2001
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>The 2001 movie "The Banger Sisters" regularly uses the verb "rattle"
>>>= "have sexual intercourse with" (although not often does it use this
>>>euphemism) and the corresponding noun "rattle".
>>>
>>>Not in the OED,  nor Wentworth & Flexner (1967) or Chapman (1995),
>>>the only slang books on my shelf.
>>>
>>>In Urbandictionary, with this meaning.  HDAS?
>>>
>>>Only mentioned because in my innocence I had not heard this before,
>>>and the OED could not enlighten me.  Not easy to find Googling.
>>>
>>>Joel
>>>
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>>
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