BE slang for _clitoris_ (UNCLASSIFIED)

Tue Jan 8 15:46:07 UTC 2013

I had a colleague at a previous university who argued that Emily Dickinson intended an oblique reference to the subject line in her poem 'The Malay--took the Pearl'. You can read it yourself and see if she's right: 

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-malay-took-the-pearl/ 

also in this poem: 

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/115/the-poems-of-emily-dickinson-series-two/4414/love-poem-9-possession/ 

FWIW (or, as Wilson would say, youneverknow...) 

Geoffrey S. Nathan 
Faculty Liaison, C&IT 
and Professor, Linguistics Program 
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ 
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) 

----- Original Message -----

> From: "Charles C Doyle" <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 10:18:34 AM
> Subject: Re: BE slang for _clitoris_ (UNCLASSIFIED)

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: BE slang for _clitoris_ (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The African American women in Alice Walker's novel _The Color Purple_
> refer to it as "the button."

> --Charlie

> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> Wilson Gray [hwgray at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2013 1:23 AM
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On Mon, Jan 7, 2013 at 10:39 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
> <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> > "Man in the boat" is the only slang I've ever run across.

> I know that one and "little man…" from reading porn. In one of the
> books that has "purr tongue," "little _boy_ in the boat" is given as
> an alternative to it. Never heard it. First time that I've ever read
> it. I've also heard and seen it referred to as "the bean."

> --
> -Wilson

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