Kalleh used this term in another thread, and it suddenly struck me as bizarre. A sex offender would be a misanthrope or its female equivalent if we used the term logically, not one who violates the sexual integrity of another. Why don't we use it that way?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

Asa, that is a great question. When you think about it, sex offender isn't very descriptive. I wonder how the phrase developed. I will look into that.

In the meantime, as an administrator I have changed the name of this thread to just "offender?" Bob is completely locked out of Q&A because of the "s" word!

Oh, yes, I forgot about that! Maybe I should have posted about religious abuse, i.e. Sect Offender!

My friend Randy loves to perform with his guitar. Randy has not yet learned Spanish, so when he does Freddy Fender's song about the Next Teardrop I fill the gap with "Si te quiere de verdad, y te da felicidad,
Les espero lo más bueno a los dos.
Pero si te hace llorar,
Conmigo puedes contar,
Y estaré contigo cuando triste estás."

Although the language is correct, my singing is someimes off key, and sometimes I distort the rythym. So we call this one "Crumpled Fender.

Does this help?

Ay, muy loco, Jerry!

quote:

Does this help?

Hmmmm...I have never been good with subtleties!

I did try to research the etymology of "sex offender." I put "sex offender" and etymology into Google and the top site was this pitiful forum called "Above Top Secret." If they did talk about the etymology of the phrase, I didn't find it. However, in reading some of their sad posts, I'd not trust what they wrote anyway! One poster, by the name of "iori_komei," calls herself a writer. Yet, her writing was D level for any high school student. Further, she says, "Well, this thread is full of extremely lengthy posts, and as such, I have not read them all, nor do I plan to." Then she proceeds with a lengthy post! I never respect people who respond to threads without reading what has been written. That is the epitome of narrow mindedness. (Shu says, "She's so narrow minded that she only needs one earring!" )

"Sex offender" is not in Etymology.com. However, it is in the OED, and here is what it says:

" 1911 J. LONDON Let. 8 Jan. (1966) 330 You are suffering from what you deem a *sex-offence. 1977 J. THOMSON Case Closed vii. 85 The offences..included fraud, burglary,..assault, sex offences of various sorts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1939 Columbia Law Rev. Mar. 535 Prior to the enactment of this statute in Illinois, a criminal *sex offender received no special treatment. 1976 K. BONFIGLIOLI Something Nasty iii. 33 We 'ave only two known sex-offenders worth the name in this Parish."

I am not sure if the dates are the first time the phrase was used or not, though I assume not.

I didn’t intend to reply to this, but when Kalleh mentioned that the terms “sex-offence” and “sex offender” first appeared in print in 1911 and 1939, respectively, my curiosity was piqued. I had assumed it was a more modern term, perhaps from the 1980s, that euphemistically covered sexual deviant behavior (whatever that is). Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

quote:

Sex crimes are forms of human sexual behavior that are crimes. Someone who commits one is said to be a sex offender.

So far, so good. Later in the article it says:

quote:

Many consensual sexual actions or activities are only viewed as crimes in some jurisdictions, including:
· Adultery
· Anal sex
· Sex among juveniles (usually as Statutory rape)
· Homosexuality
· Oral sex
· Various Paraphilias/Fetishes such as
. transvestic fetishism
. BDSM
· Pornography
· Prostitution and/or pimping
· Ownership of vibrators and other sex toys

Ownership of vibrators and other sex toys? We’ve talked about vibrators (and dildoes) before, but I just had to see what Wikipedia said about them.

quote:

The electrically-powered vibrator was invented in the 1880s by doctors, who had been ostensibly treating women for "hysteria" for centuries by performing what we would now recognise as masturbating those women to orgasm.

Wow, what a job! But the doctors considered "vulvular stimulation" to be too time consuming and too much work. Besides, it didn’t have anything to do with sex. So doctors welcomed the vibrator because it relieved them of this tedious, disgusting work. They relieved women, too, and soon became very popular. They were advertised in women’s magazines of the day, and even in the Sears, Roebuck catalog. The article goes on to describe types of vibrators, such as the “jackrabbit” and the “pocket rocket.”

The article on sex toys was equally enlightening.

Tinman

From time to time it's not been safe to enjoy one's body in this "civilization!" Thank goodness times have changed! They now sell vibrators in the bible belt, but don't say what they're really for!

As for dildo, the etymology is unknown at dictionary.com and I don't have access to the OED online. Anyone care to hazard a guess?

quote:

Originally posted by Seanahan:
As for dildo, the etymology is unknown at dictionary.com and I don't have access to the OED online.

OED punts, simply saying, "A word of obscure origin." But the intrepid etymology on-line speculates that it may be a corruption "of It. deletto 'delight,' or (less likely) of Eng. diddle."

quote:

I didn’t intend to reply to this, but when Kalleh mentioned that the terms “sex-offence” and “sex offender” first appeared in print in 1911 and 1939, respectively, my curiosity was piqued.

Does anyone know if the dates in the OED are supposed to be when the words were first used, or are they just examples, through the years, of how the words were used?

The OED tries to find the earliest example of the word being used with that specific meaning. Later quotations tend to expand the definition, or to display variance in connotation.

Back at school, any computer on the campus network could access the OED online, but now that I'm no longer a student, I don't have the luxury. Plus, individual memberships are frightfully expensive. Otherwise, I could more fully answer your question.

sometimes you can access the OED Online through your public library. That's how I get mine.

The OED Online had a second definition of dildo: "A tree or shrub of the genus Cereus (family Cactaceæ). Also dildo-tree, dildo-bush, dildo pear tree."

Tinman

quote:

such as the “jackrabbit” and the “pocket rocket.”

For some reason I get more Spam trying to sell me the "Jackrabbit vibrator" than I do almost anything else.

And I don't even know what a Jackrabbit is - we certainly don't have them in England.

A jackrabbit is what you would probably call a hare.

I've never gotten any spam trying to sell me a vibrator, jackrabbit or otherwise, but I can't seem to convince the people who continue to encourage me to add three inches to my penis with herbal viagra that I'm simply not interested...

quote:

Originally posted by zmjezhd:
A jackrabbit is what you would probably call a hare.

The vibrator has "ears" to provide simultaneous inside/outside stimulation, hence the name. And as one who has observed rabbits "doing it," the buck does indeed seem to vibrate - for about two seconds! It therefore seems odd that a maker of electric cells uses "The Energizer Bunny" in its ads. They don't last long at all!

quote:

I've never gotten any spam trying to sell me a vibrator, jackrabbit or otherwise,

Let me know your address and I can forward some to you. After all, a vibrator is of little more use to me than would be a three-inch extension to you!

I've just received another Spam offering me a "Jackrabbit". So I checked it out - and the de luxe version costs $90 plus postage and packing!

I think I'll manage to survive without one for just a little longer...

Well . . . $90 isn't too bad for the real jackrabbit, but there are lots of other offbrands out there now for much less. The affect seems to be the same, though.

<big, cheesy, non-hysterical grin>