massage parlor

[Victor Steinbok]

Wisconsin is the center of attention in the news, still, not the least
because of the possibility of several state senators being recalled.
This prompted a remarks, during a press conference, from the Senate
Majority Leader:

http://goo.gl/ZSbob
> "The ironic thing to me is that, you know, at this point we've got
> senators under recall that haven't even voted on anything and you
> know, we've got an assemblyman [Gordon Hintz (D)] that was arrested in
> Oshkosh /(sic)/ for being at a massage parlor -- and he's not under
> recall."

There are multiple factual misstatements here--the senators under recall
petitions were elected in 2008, so they hardly "haven't voted on
anything", the massage parlor in question is in Appleton, not Oshkosh
(but he was elected from Oshkosh), and Hintz was issued a citation, not
arrested. But that's all beside the point. ["(sic)" is in the original
and I am not entirely sure why.]

What I like about this is that "being at a massage parlor" is being used
as a euphemism. Here's the actual charge:

http://goo.gl/D0RUx
> The ordinance under which the 37-year-old Oshkosh Democrat was charged
> prohibits paying or receiving "a fee, directly or indirectly, or to
> offer or ask for anything of value, for touching or offering to touch
> the sexual parts of another."

So the charge is in connection with prostitution.

Has "massage parlor" as a brothel (or something similar) become so
ubiquitous that people can just be claimed to have been arrested for
"being at a massage parlor" and everyone understands the underlying
event? Or is this simply obvious from the context?

     VS-)

PS: Wisconsin politicians cannot be recalled in their first year and the
Assembly term is two years, so recalling an assemblyman is pointless, as
recall would coincide with regular elections, or, at best, shorten the
term by a couple of months. So this clearly explains why Hintz is not
being recalled (not that he's done anything that automatically
disqualifies him from office--even in the eyes of his constituents).

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