[Ads-l] bawdy = 'rowdily humorous; slapstick'

[Andy Bach]

Well, it’s gone to pornographic on Qura:
[review of Lady Gag’s rendition] “She even made me forget that the tune is
taken from a pornographic 18th C English drinking song.”

On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 5:19 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Oooh!  "Entwine"!  Just reading the word gives me a thrill.
>
> Not.
>
> Maybe the term people are groping for (sorry for the indecency) is
> "suggestive."
>
> So perhaps 'suggestive' is another new meaning of "bawdy."  (Like
> 'surprised' is the latest meaning of "shocked.")
>
> JL
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 4:37 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > According to the L.A. Times, the key word is “entwine”, from the line
> >
> > ‘I’ll instruct you, like me to entwine; The myrtle of Venus with
> Bacchus’s
> > vine’
> >
> > Since as the newspaper helpfully points out,
> >
> > '“entwine” is defined in any dictionary’.
> >
> > —although they acknowledge the sexual allusion is “understated”.
> >
> > So I guess we’re quibbling with that periodical over the threshold of
> what
> > counts as “sex”, and therefore as “bawdy”. (I can’t count the number of
> pix
> > I’ve received in which two kittens qualify as lying entwined in what I’ve
> > always taken to be a platonic way.) Maybe it should be the L.A. Times
> > rather than its N.Y. cousin that qualifies as the Gray Lady.
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
> >
> > > On Jan 21, 2021, at 2:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Reading the lyrics reveals nothing bawdy to me (i.e., 'humorously
> > indecent;
> > > obscene; lewd'). Nor is the L.A. Times a reliable guide to 18th century
> > > poesy.
> > >
> > > Anyone capable of writing the lyrics - written for a convivial singers'
> > > club ("Sons of Harmony") - would know that the myrtle was sacred to
> > Venus,
> > > goddess of love, and that Bacchus was the god of wine (in poetic
> > language,
> > > often "the vine").
> > >
> > > The singers want the spirit of Anacreon to help them harmonize about
> love
> > > and wine in a conventional neo-classic manner, and the beauty of their
> > > singing is irresistible to the gods. If someone gets horny reading the
> > poem
> > > (or singing the song), that's their problem.
> > >
> > > Because if the harmonizers want also to fuck around, they don't say so
> > > here. And they could easily find ways to do so, with or without
> > Anacreon's
> > > assistance.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jan 21, 2021 at 1:56 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com
> >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> FWIW, the Wikipedia article is at
> > >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anacreontic_Song <
> > >> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anacreontic_Song>. While frequently
> > not
> > >> followed, original research is prohibited on Wikipedia as it is a
> > >> tertiary-sourced encyclopedia.
> > >>
> > >> The comment about the song being bawdy is not sourced, so that is
> > original
> > >> research, but I think "To Anacreon in Heav’n” is clearly bawdy even if
> > >> judged by today’s standards.
> > >>
> > >> ###
> > >> "And, besides I'll instruct you, like me, to intwine
> > >> "The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's Vine.”
> > >> ###
> > >>
> > >> The LA Times says that the song is a paean to drinking and sex (
> > >> https://tinyurl.com/y4nv6xbp <https://tinyurl.com/y4nv6xbp>).
> > >>
> > >> Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
> > >> Formerly of Seattle, WA
> > >>
> > >> On 21 Jan 2021, at 04:54, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>> Wikipedia considers the turgid English song, "To Anacreon in Heav'n"
> > >>> (ca.1770), to be "bawdy":
> > >>>
> > >>> "The song, through its bawdy lyrics, gained popularity in London and
> > >>> elsewhere beyond the Anacreontic Society."
> > >>>
> > >>> The lyrics irreverently and humorously imagine the enthusiasm of the
> > gods
> > >>> to desert Olympus and join the harmonious singers of the Anacreontic
> > >>> Society, against the wishes of Zeus.
> > >>>
> > >>> (N.b., a Brit at Quora.com assured followers that the U.S. national
> > >> anthem
> > >>> was based on a "pornographic song," but nothing could be less
> > >> pornographic
> > >>> than a bunch of drunks trying to sing these lyrics to the same melody
> > as
> > >>> the "Star-Spangled Banner.")
> > >>>
> > >>> JL
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> 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."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
-- 
Andy Bach
Afbach at gmail.com
Not at my desk

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