[Ads-l] Antedating of "blow job"

[Andy Bach]

I take that back. Checking the text
https://www.globalgreyebooks.com/ebooks1/anonymous/pearl/pearl.pdf

24 of 25 usages are of cunnilingus, from either sex. There’s one male-male
blowjob reference. Often like “… [had] a mutual gamahuche” , delicious,
fine etc. poetry
Yet lured its votaries to a sudden doom,
And stamped Consumption's flush on Beauty's bloom. Sweet Gamahuche found
softer ways to fame,
It asked not Dildo's art, nor Frigging's flame.

There are 9 gamahuching usages


On Mon, Aug 1, 2022 at 10:17 AM Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:

> > But in neither case do we attest the true referential freedom
> manifest in the (alas, defunct) verb "gamahuche".
>
> Well represented in Victorian etc erotica (like “The Pearl”) where it is
> used as a noun often enough (always? spelled "gamahuche") and as a verb,
> with an -ing ending.  I blush to quote any of the instances, though.
>
> On Fri, Jul 29, 2022 at 8:28 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Actually, it should be acknowledged here that the entry for "blow", v. tr.
>> in HDAS (noted upthread, with citations back to 1930) provides the gloss
>> "to fellate or (much less freq.) to perform cunnilingus upon".  The only
>> cite Jon provides for the latter use, following unsurprisingly many for
>> the
>> former, is from a 1977 letter of John Cheever's. But it's there, and it's
>> a
>> transitive verb. I'm guessing "suck" might have similar sex-neutral
>> applications. But in neither case do we attest the true referential
>> freedom
>> manifest in the (alas, defunct) verb "gamahuche".
>>
>> LH
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jul 29, 2022 at 9:08 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > well, a transitive verb phrase, not a verb
>> >
>> > On Fri, Jul 29, 2022 at 9:04 PM Mark Mandel <markamandel at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >> English, too, has a gender-neutral verb for oral sex: "give head".
>> >>
>> >> MAM
>> >>
>> >> On Fri, Jul 29, 2022, 2:58 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > Speaking of wind instruments...
>> >> >
>> >> > French may be among relatively few languages that sport a transitive
>> >> verb
>> >> > underspecified for the meaning 'perform oral sex on', where the
>> object
>> >> can
>> >> > denote a female or male individual. Standard glosses are exemplified
>> by
>> >> > those in the OED, "To practise fellatio or cunnilingus on or with (a
>> >> > person)" for the verb and "An act of fellatio or cunnilingus" for the
>> >> > derived nominalization. The origin is unknown (barring a fanciful
>> >> > derivation), but there are two curiosities about Farmer & Henley's
>> cite:
>> >> > (1) the main entry is given as _gamaruche_, although _gamahuche_ is
>> >> given
>> >> > as a variant (orthographically speaking)
>> >> > (2) it cross-references "to bag-pipe"--this is where the wind
>> instrument
>> >> > comes into play, but checking F&H's entry for that verb, we are told
>> >> only
>> >> > that it's
>> >> >
>> >> > "A lascivious practice; too indecent to mention"
>> >> >
>> >> > Curious, since the practice (or practices) in question ("to
>> irrumate",
>> >> "to
>> >> > cunnilinge") is mentioned under the _gamaruche_ entry, not to mention
>> >> the
>> >> > degree of indecentness mentioned elsewhere by F&H.  Also the
>> >> non-definition
>> >> > is given for a noun form but it's the verb that's being left
>> undefined.
>> >> > It's as if they were too busy fanning their faces at the indecorous
>> >> item to
>> >> > even notice the discrepancy.
>> >> >
>> >> > Seriously, though, I wonder if there's independent evidence that F&H
>> >> grew
>> >> > bolder with their glosses as they moved from Vol. I (1890) (hosting
>> "to
>> >> > bag-pipe") to Vol. III (1893) (hosting "gama{r/h}uche") and beyond.
>> >> >
>> >> > LH
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>> >>
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
> --
Andy Bach
Afbach at gmail.com
Not at my desk

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