[Ads-l] Possible antedate to "pneumatic"

[Jonathan Lighter]

'Lush' seemed to work for a while.

JL

On Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 5:24 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
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> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > a
> >
> > Andy Bach,
> > afbach at gmail.com
> > 608 658-1890 cell
> > 608 261-5738 wk
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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