[off-list] Re: [ADS-L] "fanny", n.4

[Paul Johnston]

Well, there was the Southern rock group "Wet Willie"--and don't tell me that wasn't intentional in the mid-'70s.  They were from Birmingham, Alabama, though British influence is still possible.  It was the usual term in Edinburgh, along with "cock" in 1973.

Paul Johnston
On Dec 16, 2012, at 8:00 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: [off-list] Re: [ADS-L] "fanny", n.4
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>
> "Willy" seems to have started in the UK.
>
> I first heard it used by an American - who'd been in the Peace Corps in
> Afghanistan in the '70s - in 1984. He'd heard it from Brits.
>
> That was after sixteen years of slang research, including nearly ten years
> of student questionnaires (though the students were mostly from the
> Mid-South).
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Dec 16, 2012 at 12:09 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
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>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: [off-list] Re: [ADS-L] "fanny", n.4
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 15, 2012 at 11:27 PM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
>> wrote:
>>> "Peter."
>>
>> In my family, Peter's full name is "Peter Weter." My *impression" has
>> always been that _peepee_ is the source of _Peter (Weter)_ "penis."
>> For example, A college friend, Wendell ("win-DELL"), universally known
>> as "Peter," had acquired that nickname, I was told, as a consequence
>> of his having been difficult to break to the commode. Since I had long
>> since concluded that _Peter_ "penis" < _peepee_ "urine, urinate," I
>> had no trouble accepting this explanation as the truth.
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> -----
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
>> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> -Mark Twain
>>
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