Monday 6 September 2010

Victorian Slang Primer No.6 - Love lane

Some racy 19th c. (and probably earlier) slang from the Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang:-

Love-lane: The female pudend : C.19-20; ob.: low coll vergining on S.E. euphemism. Hence, a turn or an ejectment in love-lane, an act of copulation.

It gets even better ...

Turn. ... 3. An act of copulation: low : C19-20 (cf. C.17 S.E. turn-up, a whore) 'Hence,' says F.& H. 'to take a turn (or to turn a woman up) = to copulate [see RIDE] : also to take a turn among the cabbages, up one's petticoats (or among one's frills), in Abraham's bosom, in Love Lane, Bushey Park, Cock Alley, Cupid's Alley, Cupid's Corner, Hair Court, on Mount Pleasant, among the parsley, through the stubble, or a turn on one's back (of women)' : the Cupid phrases may be literary euphemism; Bushey Park and Mount Pleasant are confined to London.

 
Mount Pleasant? London readers should refer to this post on Londonist, and refrain from making jokes about the sorting office, where new vistas of euphemism await.

No comments:

Post a Comment