the birds and the bees

[Ronald Butters]

I would have to check to make sure, but I think this is listed ioin Richard Seymour's 1966 study of Duke University student slang.

On Sep 28, 2011, at 7:48 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:

> You're just not hip, Joel. " 'rental units" and " 'rents" are common
> contractions referring to the 1990s+ PArents. Actually, it's not even
> 1990s--I believe, there is a mention of "dinner with the 'rents" in Repo
> Man, which is VERY 1980s.
> 
> VS-)
> 
> On 9/28/2011 7:10 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>> At 9/28/2011 04:53 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>> 
>>> On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 1:33 PM, Jonathan Lighter
>>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>>> Colonial parents
>>> Did the ordinary colonial 'rental unit enjoy the kind of privacy that
>>> would have permitted them to keep sexual intercourse a secret till the
>>> chidren were approaching puberty?
>> I don't think there were many "rental units".  And my feeling is that
>> in most homes in the 18th century the children had a separate bedroom
>> from the parents (at least in the American colonies).  What might
>> have been heard I can't speak to.  And most families had farm animals
>> (even in the "cities" a home might have a cow), so observation of
>> animal copulation perhaps was the common medium of transmission of knowledge.
>> 
>> Joel
> 
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