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

[Wilson Gray]

> original research

Flipped through _Shakespeare's Bawdy_ while dozing through EngLit 101 and
retained a vague misunderstanding of the meaning of the title?

On Fri, Jan 22, 2021 at 6:01 PM Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>


-- 
- Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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