lemon party

[victor steinbok]

"Prune party" might be more transparent:

>  When I turned 50, I had a Happy Birthday *Prune Party* too

But the initial list of ghits actually gets "prune party" as a party that is
themed on cooking with prunes (as one blogger comments, "But I don't know
where to store all the Charmin").

There is also a /political/ Prune Party in Granada (Spain). OK, make that
PRUNE: Partido Renacimeinto y Unión España. I doubt they were counting on
Anglophones.

As for my initial suggestion, there are two plays on "prune" here--the use
of prune as a laxative and the shriveled nature that is often used
metaphorically.

VS-)

On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 8:35 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> A friend called long distnace to ask the meaning of this phrase, which he'd
> heard on his favorite television cartoon. He was mystified and so was I, so
> I made inquiry of another friend, chosen at random.
>
> He confessed having heard "lemon party" a few years ago, from Mr. Burns
> of _The Simpsons_, but had no idea what it meant either.
>
> UrbanDictionary instantly revealed that the meaning is (I'm
> paraphrasing) "an orgy of unclothed, elderly homosexual men."
>
> The term seemingly derives from the name of an internationally popular
> website featuring on-the-spot pictures of such events. My good sense and
> powers of imagination kept me from going there.
>
> But here's the point: in bronto days, when I was a lad, we didn't feel the
> lack, so obvious in retrospect, of a handy designator for that particular
> referent.
>
> Why was that?
>
> JL

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