[Ads-l] Possible antedate to "pneumatic"

[Mark Mandel]

I prefer "zaftik".

MAM

On Tue, Mar 17, 2020, 5:17 PM Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:

> It was an adjective of some promise in "Brave New World" - Spark notes
> over-eggs it a tad:
> pneumatic
>
> The word *pneumatic *is used with remarkable frequency to describe two
> things: Lenina’s body and chairs. *Pneumatic *is an adjective that usually
> means that something has air pockets or works by means of compressed air.
> In the case of the chairs (in the feely theater and in Mond’s office), it
> probably means that the chairs’ cushions are inflated with air. In Lenina’s
> case, the word is used by both Henry Foster and Benito Hoover to describe
> what she’s like to have sex with. She herself remarks that her lovers
> usually find her “pneumatic,” patting her legs as she does so. In reference
> to Lenina it means well-rounded, balloon-like, or bouncy, in reference to
> her flesh, and in particular her bosom. Huxley is not the only writer to
> use the word *pneumatic *in this sense, although it is an unusual usage.
> The use of this odd word to describe the physical characteristics of both a
> woman and a piece of furniture underscores the novel’s theme that human
> sexuality has been degraded to the level of a commodity.
>
>
> I thought it was used to refer to more than one woman; I always assumed it
> had a more direct relation to the pump than the air that comes out of a
> pump.
>
> On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 9:29 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Cowhide whips??  O. Henry???
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 6:05 PM Ben Yagoda <byagoda at udel.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > The relevant definition of “pneumatic” is “humorous. Of, relating to,
> or
> > > characteristic of a woman with a well-rounded figure, esp. a large
> bosom;
> > > (of a woman) having a well-rounded figure, esp. large-bosomed.”
> > >
> > > The first citation is T.S. Eliot (!) in the 1919 poem “Whispers of
> > > Immortality”: "Grishkin is nice... Uncorseted, her friendly bust Gives
> > > promise of pneumatic bliss." A more recent one is from The Sunday Times
> > in
> > > 1994: “Making her film debut in 1981 as a pneumatic Texan temp in the
> > > office comedy Nine To Five, Dolly Parton was an instant success.”
> > >
> > > But a character in a 1905 O. Henry story, “The Girl and the Graft,”
> > > presents a long slangy list of feminine wiles: "signed letters, false
> > > hair, sympathy, the kangaroo walk, cowhide whips, ability to cook,
> > > sentimental juries, conversational powers, silk underskirts, ancestry,
> > > rouge, anonymous letters, violet sachet powders, witnesses, revolvers,
> > > pneumatic forms, carbolic acid, moonlight, cold cream and the evening
> > > newspapers.”
> > >
> > > By the way, the kangaroo walk was a locomotion fad that involved, as
> one
> > > source put it, a “hoppy, springy stride and a swinging relaxation of
> the
> > > arms.” It inspired a 1902 song called “The Girl with the Kangaroo
> Walk.”
> > >
> > > Ben
> > >
> > > benyagoda.com
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >
> >
> >
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> truth."
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>
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>
> a
>
> Andy Bach,
> afbach at gmail.com
> 608 658-1890 cell
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>
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