[lit-ideas] "Made in France" (Was: "Dr. Condom, I presume"
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 23:18:57 EDT
Thanks to R. Paul for his reference to the online etymological guide. One
reference to "My Secret [sic] Life" below. I say 'sic' because everybody is
talking about it.
We are discussing 'things French'.
c1888-94 My Secret Life III. 324
What Jenny's sister paid for French letters I dont know, I used to pay nine
pence each.
R. Paul, who is 'of French-Canadian extraction', cites:
"
French letter "condom" (c.1856), French (v.) "perform oral sex on" (c.1917)
and French kiss (1923) all probably stem from the Anglo-Saxon equation of
Gallic culture and sexual sophistication, a sense first recorded 1749 in
French
novel.
We may add further uses of 'French' from the OED:
1931 'D. Stiff'' Milk & Honey Route xiv. 152
At one time the hobo enjoyed almost exclusively the ‘French post cards’
(called ‘American cards’ in France).
I suppose that is what the Frenchies (no derogation here -- call me "Argie")
call "Titte for Tatte".
1959 G. ENDORE Detour through Devon 166
And in our slang, French means ‘perverted’.
but we are not told whose 'our' -- Endore, not a Devonian, I would think --
The quote which the ref. provided by Paul is 1856 becomes "c1856" for the
OED, and the actual quote is from 1955!
c1856 Paul Pry in C. Pearl Girl with Swansdown Seat (1955) vi. 256
French letters..prevent the spread of venereal contagion in casual
intercourse between the sexes, and in the marriage state, the increase of the
family.
c1857 Amours, Intrigues, & Adv. Musical Student 144 (Advt.),
How many industrious men have been crushed by poverty..through ignorance of
the existence of French Letters.
1886 R. F. Burton Arab. Nts. X. 239
Of the penis succedaneus..every kind abounds, varying from a stuffed ‘French
letter’ to a cone of ribbed horn.
c1888-94 My Secret Life III. 324
What Jenny's sister paid for French letters I dont know, I used to pay nine
pence each.
1960 B. ASKWITH Tangled Web 162,
I daresay he would have liked to give me a I dabut he always used a French
letter.
1960 M Spark, Bachelors x. 181 They fumble about with their french letters
or they tear open their horrible little packets of contraceptives like kids
with sweets.
1968 J. R. Ackerley My Father & Myself vi. 49 My elder brother Peter was
the accident. ‘Your father happened to have run out of french letters that day.’
The rather irrelevant ref. to Baroness Orczy is:
1905 _BARONESS ORCZY_
(http://0-dictionary.oed.com.csulib.ctstateu.edu/help/bib/oed2-o.html#baroness-orczy)
Scarlet Pimpernel xii. 117
We seek him here, we seek him there, Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
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