Antedating of "Menopause"

[Amy West]

I infer it to refer to vaginal discharge.

---Amy West

(Who ended up missing the ADS conference because she ended up in the
g*dd*mn hospital and had emergency surgery that Thurs and Friday, and
now has learned the term "medical menopause," and is further embittered
that she is restricted from vintage dance, snowshoeing, skiing, and
skating until the middle of Feb. Her next shot at attending the
conference isn't until 2016 when it's in DC and she can combine it with
a visit to her demented father. Yippee.)

On 1/13/13 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> Date:    Sat, 12 Jan 2013 09:02:14 -0800
> From:    Spanbock/Svoboda-Spanbock<spanbocks at VERIZON.NET>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Menopause"
>
> Sorry - 'Have you the whites?'
>
> What does that mean?
>
> --
> Kate Svoboda-Spanbock
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Jan 12, 2013, at 8:14 AM, "Shapiro, Fred"<fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>  wrote:
>
>> >---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> >Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred"<fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> >Subject:      Antedating of "Menopause"
>> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> >menopause (OED 1872)
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >1858_New Hampshire Journal of Medicine_  1 Aug. (American Periodical Series=
>> >)  In females we enquire:  Are you regular?  Have you the whites?  Replies =
>> >to these questions convey what is essential respecting puberty, pregnancy, =
>> >the menopause, the different affections of the uterus and vagina.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Fred Shapiro

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