quote: I am forced to conclude that there are as many euphemisms for getting drunk as there are for matters of a sexual nature - and maybe for the same reasons. Most people do it but don't like to admit it too boldly!
On the occasion of Richard's quote in the beer thread, and seeing we are a bold bunch, I think it's time to talk about words of love as opposed to love of words (which boils down to the same thing I guess).
What are your favorite erotic words?
One of mine: sensuous (that susurrus really does it for me!)
can I just say onanism. ************************* To paraphrase Woody Allen, at least it's sex with someone you love. I find it amusing that there's a small engine and generatior manufacturer in the USA named Onan. I won't say anything about getting a charge out of certain activities, however...
Another one maybe not so erotic sounding, but certainly infrequent! osculate. **************************************** Well, muse, it may not sound too erotic, but it sure can get the juices flowing!
So, how many of you have noticed that suposedly "erotic" words are of Greek or Latin derivation, whereas if we use their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, we're accused of crudity? Curious, no?
quote:Originally posted by museamuse: Can you guys imagine an erotic story with all these words? I'm sure it would make penthouse readers open their..... dictionaries!
I'm fairly sure most Penthouse readers are familiar with onanism as a concept even if not as a word.
quote:So, how many of you have noticed that suposedly "erotic" words are of Greek or Latin derivation, whereas if we use their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, we're accused of crudity? Curious, no?
Not really. Remember the origins of English. After the Norman Conquest the ruling class (and de facto arbiters of taste) spoke Norman French. Romance words therefore became "cultured" and the Anglo-Saxon ones became "crude".
Remember the origins of English. After the Norman Conquest the ruling class (and de facto arbiters of taste) spoke Norman French. ***************************************** And now you've got Germans on the throne! Of course, what you say is true, yet the Norman Conquest happened in 1066. I would have expected the influence of those invaders to have died down a bit more. And, sense the Normans were originally Nordic people who invaded France, why did they adapt Old French instead of keeping their own tongue?
Do you know how much Nordic language influenced Russian? After all, a Nordic people established what's now called Russia. How much of spoken Russian was influenced by them? Never mind the modified Greek alphabet, I wonder how influential the Norse were in spoken Slavic. Any idea
My favorite words of love these days, come from a tiny mouth. The sounds don't make sense to put them on paper, but they are full of love in the most wonderful way, especially at 4 am when she wakes for a bottle. There is nothing better than picking up your grandchild and having her look in your eyes, stop crying, and babble!
Posts: 1412 | Location: Buffalo, NY, United States
quote:So, how many of you have noticed that suposedly "erotic" words are of Greek or Latin derivation, whereas if we use their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, we're accused of crudity?
Reminds me of one verse (of many!) in an old bit of doggeral:
Banish the use of the four-letter word Whose meanings are never obscure. The Angles and Saxons those bawdy old birds Were vulgar, obscene and impure. But cherish the use of the weak-kneed phrase That never says quite what you mean; You'd better be known for your hypocrite ways Than be vulgar, impure or obscene.
You'd better be known for your hypocrite ways Than be vulgar,... **************************************** Odd word, vulgar. Meaning common,from the Latin word vulgus. So, we aren't supposed to be common, yet Aaron Copeland isn't excoriated for writing "Fanfare for The Common Man," now is he? And there's the Latin Vulgate Bible in Christianity. So, I'll just keep my good old Anglo-Saxon four leter words, and BE vulgar!
Pronounced "guy-NOT-tee-co-LOW-bo-MAS-so-file" this mouthful (pun intended) refers to a person who enjoys nibbling on the earlobes of women. Roughly breaking it down: gyno - woman tico - ear lobo - lobes masso - to chew phile - lover of
I refer you to one of the finest dictionaries ever compiled - "Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary" - a description of which I won't tap out here right now since I'd bet good money most posters here are well familiar with it already. It's one of my favorite books and one I have given as a gift to many fellow word-loving friends.
One of these, a woman with whom I lived for some ten glorious months, returned the favor by having a T-shirt made up for me which proudly proclaimed that I was, in fact, a gynoticolobomassophile. When someone would ask me what that meant, I simply reflied that a gynoticolobomassophile was a person who acted gynoticolobomassophistically. (lost a lot of friends that way...)
Regarding the song lyric about proper vs. obscene words, Oscar Brand recorded it in the version you are most likely to have heard but I'm almost positive he didn't write it. He has close to a hundred albums in circulation and most, if not all, are comprised of folk songs of one topic or another.
quote:Originally posted by C J Strolin: I refer you to one of the finest dictionaries ever compiled - "Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary" ...
C.J.,
I checked Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary out of the library after you recommended it on another forum. I subsequently found it at a used book store (Half-Price Books). I bought it, of course. I later found "The Word Lover's Dictionary: unusual, obscure, and preposterous Words", by Josefa Heifetz, at the same store. I was going to buy it, until I looked inside. I discovered it was originally published as "Mrs. Bryne's Dictionary of unusual, obscure, and preposterous Words", by Josefa Heifetz Byrnes, edited by Robert Byrne.
Poor old Venus don't get no respect anymore. Venery used to be a common word, and even venereal disease has been usurped by the sterile STD. BLAH! After all, love sickness is a venereal disease!
Now what I want is to find me a gynonuchalmassophile! ********************************** I've never seen this word before, but I gather from its parts, and the context, that your nuchal muscle, or neck muscle needs massaging. That being the case, it's no great leap for the male mind to point out that the Latin word for neck is cervix. Now, did you still want that massage?
'masso' doesn't mean 'massage' here, Asa, but 'nibble' from the Greek verb. Now I think it would be a rare individual that was into gynocervicomassophilia. As for the massage you were referring to, depends on what you're massaging with!
If anyone should be haunting either the net or your local used record stores for the folk singer I mentioned earlier, upon reflection I'm pretty sure his name is Oscar Brandt and not Oscar Brand. To the best of my knowledge he is still touring (college gigs, mostly) and, at least as of maybe five years ago when I last heard him interviewed, remains a primary standard bearer for Folk Music in general and (for lack of a better way to describe it) the entertainingly smutty yet not particularly offensive ditties that get passed down from one generation to the next such as the classic "Ball o' Yarn."
I was looking up motivational quotes today for a talk I have to give (does anyone have a good one?), and I found this wonderful one: One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: That word is love. Sophocles (495 BC - 406 BC)
How to say this delicately? Acronym Finder gives 30 different supposed uses of this acronym, of which the one relevant here is the tenth, immediately preceding "Battle of Britain". Should that not clarify the euphemism (or should I say eufemmism?), PM me.
Yet another great website! When I was young, I used to wish I was wealthy so I'd be a babe magnet. Now I wish I were wealthy so that I could spend more time doodling around the internet!
I had to laugh that the number one acronym for B.O.B. (according to this COMPUTER website) was "best of breed," which makes sense but then in parentheses they add "computer industry, also dog and cat shows." Also dog and cat shows?! And what determines the breed of a computer?! Or, if you're going to breed them (and sell the babies, maybe?) how does one determine gender? No, wait. I don't want to know...
I am pleased, though, that my "baby on board" guess took third place honors on the B.O.B. list. This has the makings of a good party game - One person comes up with three letters and then everyone tries to guess the acronym highest on the list. And losers have to take their clothes off! Woo-Hoo!!
That pretty much sounds like what the exclamation WOOHOO is supposed to mean! ***************************************** Ohhhhh, bite your tongue, Asa!
Actually, those of us who grew up on Daffy Duck cartoons will remember him "WooHooing" a good bit. Quite different - and less piquant - inference, I suspect.
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