Word drift -- "gangbang"

[Wilson Gray]

On Thu, Mar 22, 2012 at 12:10 PM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> OED has "gangbanger" meaning 'a member of a street gang, esp.
> one who engages in gang violence' from 1969.

This has, so to speak, "always," as it were, been the relevant meaning in BE.

> a "gangbang" was an event where a group of males, each in succession, raped
> ... a female.

In Saint Louis BE, back in the day, we termed this "_the_ train."
Elsewhere, apparently, this event is referred to as "_a_ train."
Performing the act was termmed"pulling 'the train' (on someone)" and
was specifically *the* term for gang-rape, whereas a _gang-bang_ was
what was called a "rumble' in white speech of the day.

Rape by two males taking turns is called "tag-teaming." whence the
name of the rap group, Tag Team, known for a version of the
"stadium-rock" song, "Whoomp! (There It Is)," released in 1993,
essentially the same music as the slightly older "Whoot, There it is,"
by 95 South, but with different words.

--
-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

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org