AKICIF

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Today's 9 Chickweed Lane:

https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2021/09/20

Google has failed me.

"Charlies"?

I assume the twins are referring to some parts of their mother's
body that comes in pairs.

Even googling "charlies body parts" led me only to an endless
list of "Charlie's [auto] body parts."

What are the girls talking about?

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/

[Tim Merrigan]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:13:32 GMT, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
Heydt) wrote:

>Today's 9 Chickweed Lane:
>
>https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2021/09/20
>
>Google has failed me.
>
>"Charlies"?
>
>I assume the twins are referring to some parts of their mother's
>body that comes in pairs.
>
>Even googling "charlies body parts" led me only to an endless
>list of "Charlie's [auto] body parts."
>
>What are the girls talking about?

Maybe her "Charlie's Angels" poses, as possibly hinted at in the
header of the left hand column at GoComics?

I suspect they'll explain it in the next few days.
--

Qualified immuninity = vertual impunity.

Tim Merrigan

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

[Andy Leighton]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:13:32 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
> Today's 9 Chickweed Lane:
>
> https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2021/09/20
>
> Google has failed me.
>
> "Charlies"?
>
> I assume the twins are referring to some parts of their mother's
> body that comes in pairs.
>
> Even googling "charlies body parts" led me only to an endless
> list of "Charlie's [auto] body parts."
>
> What are the girls talking about?

British / Australian slang for women's breasts.

Why an American cartoonist is using that word I don't know.

--
Andy Leighton => an...@azaal.plus.com
"We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"
- Douglas Adams

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <slrnski35j...@azaal.plus.com>,

Andy Leighton <an...@azaal.plus.com> wrote:
>On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:13:32 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>> Today's 9 Chickweed Lane:
>>
>> https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2021/09/20
>>
>> Google has failed me.
>>
>> "Charlies"?
>>
>> I assume the twins are referring to some parts of their mother's
>> body that comes in pairs.
>>
>> Even googling "charlies body parts" led me only to an endless
>> list of "Charlie's [auto] body parts."
>>
>> What are the girls talking about?
>
>British / Australian slang for women's breasts.
>
>Why an American cartoonist is using that word I don't know.

Me neither, except he's old and weird and follows his own
drummer. Thanks for the explanation.

[Kevrob]

On Monday, September 20, 2021 at 7:00:00 PM UTC-4, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> In article <slrnski35j...@azaal.plus.com>,
> Andy Leighton <an...@azaal.plus.com> wrote:
> >On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:13:32 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
> >> Today's 9 Chickweed Lane:
> >>
> >> https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2021/09/20
> >>
> >> Google has failed me.
> >>
> >> "Charlies"?
> >>
> >> I assume the twins are referring to some parts of their mother's
> >> body that comes in pairs.
> >>
> >> Even googling "charlies body parts" led me only to an endless
> >> list of "Charlie's [auto] body parts."
> >>
> >> What are the girls talking about?
> >
> >British / Australian slang for women's breasts.
> >
> >Why an American cartoonist is using that word I don't know.
> Me neither, except he's old and weird and follows his own
> drummer. Thanks for the explanation.
> --
>

Using a, to USAians, obscure Britishism to get stuff past the censors?

Male nick names for female bodyparts are weird, or is that just me?

If 3 ladies struck the "Charlie's Angels pose" I might think "nice guns!"

--
Kevin R

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <597446b5-8ef1-4c7c...@googlegroups.com>,

Does that have any connection with the fact that male nicknames
for male body parts frequently have a secondary meaning of
"stupid person"?

[Paul Dormer]

In article <slrnski35j...@azaal.plus.com>, an...@azaal.plus.com

(Andy Leighton) wrote:

> British / Australian slang for women's breasts.

The TV show The Fast Show did a recurring sketch about Channel 9, a
foreign language channel in some unnamed country. At the time, the BBC
used to do a gardening show fronted by a woman called Charlie Dimmock and
The Fast Show did a parody of this in the Channel 9 segment. At one
point, a bare-breasted woman appears with a wheelbarrow. The male
presenter turns to the camera and says, "Magnifico Charlies!"

[Peter Trei]

Googling 'charlies euphemism for breasts' rapidly brings up:

https://www.definition-of.com/charlies

charlies
(Adult / Slang)
Or: charleys :

1. British and Australian rhyming slang for titties , female breasts, possibly derived from the common name of King Charles II who had many mistresses. See breasts for synonyms and euphemisms.

[I've never encountered definition 2: -pt]

2. British slang for testicles. See penis for synonyms.

pt

[Paul Dormer]

In article <5f02e976-9bdd-4743...@googlegroups.com>,

pete...@gmail.com (Peter Trei) wrote:

> 1. British and Australian rhyming slang for titties , female breasts,
> possibly derived from the common name of King Charles II who had many
> mistresses. See breasts for synonyms and euphemisms.

Not sure how it can be rhyming slang.

I like the suggested derivation given here:

https://idiomorigins.org/origin/charliecharlies

[Andy Leighton]

On Tue, 21 Sep 2021 08:34:56 -0700 (PDT), Peter Trei <pete...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Googling 'charlies euphemism for breasts' rapidly brings up:
>
> https://www.definition-of.com/charlies
>
> charlies
> (Adult / Slang)
> Or: charleys :
>
> 1. British and Australian rhyming slang for titties , female breasts,
> possibly derived from the common name of King Charles II who had many
> mistresses.

Probably the least convincing candidate etymology.

The one I have seen is from an 1840s Romani word (now lost) meaning to
fondle or caress.

[Paul Dormer]

In article <slrnskk124...@azaal.plus.com>, an...@azaal.plus.com

(Andy Leighton) wrote:

>
> The one I have seen is from an 1840s Romani word (now lost) meaning to
> fondle or caress.

Beat you to it. :-)

[Peter Trei]

On Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 12:11:49 PM UTC-4, Andy Leighton wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Sep 2021 08:34:56 -0700 (PDT), Peter Trei <pete...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Googling 'charlies euphemism for breasts' rapidly brings up:
> >
> > https://www.definition-of.com/charlies
> >
> > charlies
> > (Adult / Slang)
> > Or: charleys :
> >
> > 1. British and Australian rhyming slang for titties , female breasts,
> > possibly derived from the common name of King Charles II who had many
> > mistresses.
> Probably the least convincing candidate etymology.
>
> The one I have seen is from an 1840s Romani word (now lost) meaning to
> fondle or caress.

I agree - its a bit farfetched.

I was more interested in confirming for Dorothy the meaning, rather than the
etymology, as well as demonstrating some working Google-fu.

pt

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <04f60b5d-9705-4374...@googlegroups.com>,

And so you did; thank you.

Not that Edda is particularly outstanding in that capacity, but
she has more than her daughters, who are about two.

[Lafe]

Peter Trei <pete...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:5f02e976-9bdd-4743...@googlegroups.com:

Strangely, I have only experienced definition 2. I was raised in Texas, for
whatever that's worth. Being smacked in the charlies only ever meant one
thing, and it hurt.

Lafe

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <16a703ccbea1b572$1$3168390$c4d5...@news.newsdemon.com>,

When I asked the original question, I was thinking "maybe
'legs'?" Thinking of "charley-horse" meaning "leg-cramp." But
it was not so. You learn the darnedest things on USENET,

[Andy Leighton]

Partridge (Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English) has charleys
to mean testicles and indicates that it is American with a first (written)
use of 1964.

I too have never encountered the use of charleys to mean testicles in
the UK.

[Paul Dormer]

In article <qztHp...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J

Heydt) wrote:

> When I asked the original question, I was thinking "maybe
> 'legs'?" Thinking of "charley-horse" meaning "leg-cramp." But
> it was not so. You learn the darnedest things on USENET,

Charley-horse is not that well known in the UK. Back in the sixties, the
American ventriloquist Shari Lewis had a series on British TV. One of
her puppets was called Charley Horse and it was years before I found out
the origin of that name.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <memo.2021092...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk>,

"Two nations divided by a common language."

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <slrnsklpih...@azaal.plus.com>,

Nor have I in the US. But then, I am female, elderly, and rather
hidebound. Most of the common slang for naughty bits (that I
know!!) has come into my notice in the last decade or two.

[Scott Dorsey]

Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
>When I asked the original question, I was thinking "maybe
>'legs'?" Thinking of "charley-horse" meaning "leg-cramp." But
>it was not so. You learn the darnedest things on USENET,

Each day I go off to fly combat,
In the flak, the fog, and the rain.
The Charlies are up even sooner
To recapture the ramp at Da Nang.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Peter Trei]

On Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 7:47:09 PM UTC-4, Scott Dorsey wrote:
> Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:
> >When I asked the original question, I was thinking "maybe
> >'legs'?" Thinking of "charley-horse" meaning "leg-cramp." But
> >it was not so. You learn the darnedest things on USENET,
> Each day I go off to fly combat,
> In the flak, the fog, and the rain.
> The Charlies are up even sooner
> To recapture the ramp at Da Nang.
> --scott

In case this is unclear to anyone:
Viet Cong -> VC -> Victor Charlie -> Charlie.

Pt

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <324c4698-4a25-474c...@googlegroups.com>,

Mentioning Da Nang makes it crystal clear for anyone my age.

[Charles Packer]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 17:35:31 -0500, Andy Leighton wrote:

> On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:13:32 GMT, Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com>
> wrote:
>> Today's 9 Chickweed Lane:
>>
>> https://www.gocomics.com/9chickweedlane/2021/09/20
>>
>> Google has failed me.
>>
>> "Charlies"?
>>
>> I assume the twins are referring to some parts of their mother's body
>> that comes in pairs.
>>
>> Even googling "charlies body parts" led me only to an endless list of
>> "Charlie's [auto] body parts."
>>
>> What are the girls talking about?
>
> British / Australian slang for women's breasts.
>

If that's so, why did the Brits of WW II use "Tail-end Charley"
to mean a plane that brings up the *rear* of a formation?

[Alan Woodford]

On Thu, 23 Sep 2021 07:55:49 GMT, Charles Packer <mai...@cpacker.org> wrote:

>On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 17:35:31 -0500, Andy Leighton wrote:
>

---snip---

>> British / Australian slang for women's breasts.
>>
>
>If that's so, why did the Brits of WW II use "Tail-end Charley"
>to mean a plane that brings up the *rear* of a formation?

Because slang rarely makes perfect sense? :-)

But I'd not heard "Charlies" as slang for breasts until this thread...

Lots of others, but not that one!

Alan Woodford
The Greying Lensman

[Andy Leighton]

Charlie as slang has lots of different meanings - most of them
not used any more. There are around 10 Charlie X rhyming slang
and as is usual in a lot of rhyming slang you often drop the X.
So Charlie Sheen was once used for cash macine. Charlie Drake
meant brake. Charlie meaning fool (as in a proper Charlie)
is the rhyming slang Charlie Smirke (which rhymes with
berk*). Apparently Charlie Smirke was a well-known jockey
in the 1930s to the 50s.

So slang is rarely simple, and words and terms often
have multiple, maybe conflicting, meanings, as it is
often very local or as in "tail-end charlie" specific
to a profession. In some cases, such as rhyming slang
and polari, having a meaning that is not clear to
any outsider listening in was seen as an advantage.

BTW I hadn't heard Charlie Sheen or Charlie Drake or
most of the other usages before I went down the rabbit
hole of research. Charlie meaning fool of course is well
known (but I didn't know the etymology).

* Of course berk is also rhyming slang. Berkshire Hunt.
However both berk and charlie now just mean foolish
rather than anything else.

[Paul Dormer]

In article <slrnskoh7h...@azaal.plus.com>, an...@azaal.plus.com

(Andy Leighton) wrote:

>
> Charlie as slang has lots of different meanings - most of them
> not used any more.

A few years ago there was a fashion for women to wear a petticoat under
their dress that was longer than the dress. It was pointed out at the
time that in an earlier era, if you wanted to warn someone that their
petticoat was showing, you'd say, "Charlie's dead."

[Gary McGath]

On 9/23/21 5:12 AM, Andy Leighton wrote:

> Charlie as slang has lots of different meanings - most of them
> not used any more.

And there's the Boston transit system's "Charlie Card," named with
presumably intentional irony for the song "Charlie on the MTA."


--
Gary McGath http://www.mcgath.com

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <memo.2021092...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk>,
Paul Dormer <p...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:

Um, back in my distant youth, if a woman's slip was showing, it
was by accident, and someone would tell her that in a whisper, so
that she could hit the nearest ladies' room and fix it. The
time when "underwear as outerwear" was in style was, as you say,
much more recent, and I don't *think* anyone would bother to tell
the wearer of the visible slip that her slip was showing.

I've also read about -- never actually heard -- that phrase being
used to tell a man his fly was unzipped.

I did, once, on a bus, hear a man tell another (older) man, "Hey,
your fly is open." And when the elder didn't seem to hear or
understand, then in a louder voice, "Your FLY." Whereupon the
elder hastily zipped it up.

[Paul Dormer]

In article <qzw1v...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J

Heydt) wrote:

> Um, back in my distant youth, if a woman's slip was showing, it
> was by accident, and someone would tell her that in a whisper, so
> that she could hit the nearest ladies' room and fix it. The
> time when "underwear as outerwear" was in style was, as you say,
> much more recent, and I don't *think* anyone would bother to tell
> the wearer of the visible slip that her slip was showing.

Meant to post a link to this article:

https://wordhistories.net/2019/11/18/charlies-dead-petticoat-showing/

It would seem the phrase was in use in the fifties as a euphemistic way
or warning someone. It became fashionable to wear dresses shorter than
the petticoat more recently, and of course then it was deliberate.
Judging by that article it was in the late seventies. I vaguely remember
it; it wasn't fashionable for long.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <memo.20210923...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk>,

I remember *knowing* the word "petticoat" in my youth, but only
in a historical context, like something my grandmother might have
worn in her youth, when skirts were longer and fuller. Or in a
nursery rhyme about a woman who fell asleep and a thief cut her
petticoats off at her knees.

In my part of California, at least, the undergarment worn under a dress
was called a "slip", having a straight skirt, not a full, gathered one.
Even in the early fifties, when full-circle skirts were temporarily a
thing, what we wore under them was a slip.

But this might have been regional. Does any female person on
this group remember "petticoat" in common usage in, say, the
middle of the 20th century?

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <memo.20210923...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk>,

Paul Dormer <p...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <qzw1v...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J
>Heydt) wrote:
>
>> Um, back in my distant youth, if a woman's slip was showing, it
>> was by accident, and someone would tell her that in a whisper, so
>> that she could hit the nearest ladies' room and fix it. The
>> time when "underwear as outerwear" was in style was, as you say,
>> much more recent, and I don't *think* anyone would bother to tell
>> the wearer of the visible slip that her slip was showing.
>
>
>Meant to post a link to this article:
>
>https://wordhistories.net/2019/11/18/charlies-dead-petticoat-showing/

Now, this part I find difficult to believe.

>At 9.30 a.m. the redoubtable Philip M.Cann, showing at least a
>yard of next week.s washing beneath his kilt, led the .United
>Nations. procession of 400 students from the University to the
>City Chambers.

I clearly remember Duncan Lunan, who was in the habit of wearing
a kilt on formal occasions, telling us the joke about the woman
asking the kilted Scotsman, "What is worn under the kilt?" and
getting the answer, "Nothing is worn under the kilt, madame; it's
all in perfect working order."

[Gary McGath]

On 9/23/21 12:53 PM, Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
> I remember *knowing* the word "petticoat" in my youth, but only
> in a historical context, like something my grandmother might have
> worn in her youth, when skirts were longer and fuller. Or in a
> nursery rhyme about a woman who fell asleep and a thief cut her
> petticoats off at her knees.

I recall a different nursery rhyme, about "Little Nanny Etticoat in her
white petticoat." That's surely one of the most forced rhymes ever.

[Alan Woodford]

On Thu, 23 Sep 2021 13:39:33 -0400, Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com>
wrote:

I was listening to this one in the car earlier today:

"When the air becomes Uranious
And we will all go simultaneous"

And a quick google suggests the tume in question was recorded almost a month
before I was born :-)

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <93ipkglavo112aujr...@4ax.com>,

1957 is the date I found.

I was a junior in high school. What I mostly remember about 1957
is Sputnik. (Hal, eight years old, got to see it go by, but I
never did.)

[Lowell Gilbert]

Gary McGath <ga...@REMOVEmcgathREMOVE.com> writes:

> On 9/23/21 5:12 AM, Andy Leighton wrote:
>
>> Charlie as slang has lots of different meanings - most of them
>> not used any more.
>
> And there's the Boston transit system's "Charlie Card," named with
> presumably intentional irony for the song "Charlie on the MTA."

It is, indeed, intentional.

[Alan Woodford]

The date I found on Wikipedia was March '59, but that is wikipedia, so who
knows? :-)

[Keith F. Lynch]

Dorothy J Heydt <djh...@kithrup.com> wrote:

> But this might have been regional. Does any female person on this
> group remember "petticoat" in common usage in, say, the middle of
> the 20th century?

I'm not female, but I recall a TV show titled _Petticoat Junction_.
IMDB and Wikipedia say it ran from 1963 to 1970.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

[Keith F. Lynch]

Paul Dormer <p...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
> It would seem the phrase was in use in the fifties as a euphemistic
> way or warning someone. It became fashionable to wear dresses
> shorter than the petticoat more recently, and of course then it was
> deliberate. Judging by that article it was in the late seventies.
> I vaguely remember it; it wasn't fashionable for long.

ObSF: In Jack Finney's _Time and Again_ when a woman from the 1880s
is brought to the 1970s, she wears a 1970s short dress over her 1880s
long petticoat, and is told that that just isn't done.

[Joy Beeson]

On Thu, 23 Sep 2021 11:40 +0100 (BST), p...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk (Paul
Dormer) wrote:

> It was pointed out at the
> time that in an earlier era, if you wanted to warn someone that their
> petticoat was showing, you'd say, "Charlie's dead."

In my era, it was "It's snowing down south."

(Underwear was normally white, a custom persisting from the time when
dye was too expensive to waste on something that didn't show.)

There used to be a column in the Reader's Digest called "Pardon me,
your slip is showing."

I recall darting into a ladies' room to take my slip off and put it in
my purse, since the shoulder straps couldn't be shortened enough.
Luckily, slips of the era were made of thin fabric that could be
folded small.


--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

[Tim Merrigan]

I can remember hearing "it's snowing down south" and "your slip is
showing" (though never directed at me, as I've never worn a slip (or
petticoat)), though never "Charlie's dead". And the latter much more
often than the former. Maybe it's an American vs. British thing.
--

Qualified immuninity = vertual impunity.

Tim Merrigan

--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com

[Andy Leighton]

On Fri, 24 Sep 2021 03:47:07 -0700, Tim Merrigan <tp...@ca.rr.com> wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Sep 2021 02:08:26 -0400, Joy Beeson
><jbe...@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
>
>>On Thu, 23 Sep 2021 11:40 +0100 (BST), p...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk (Paul
>>Dormer) wrote:
>>
>>> It was pointed out at the
>>> time that in an earlier era, if you wanted to warn someone that their
>>> petticoat was showing, you'd say, "Charlie's dead."
>>
>>In my era, it was "It's snowing down south."
>>
>>(Underwear was normally white, a custom persisting from the time when
>>dye was too expensive to waste on something that didn't show.)
>>
>>There used to be a column in the Reader's Digest called "Pardon me,
>>your slip is showing."
>>
>>I recall darting into a ladies' room to take my slip off and put it in
>>my purse, since the shoulder straps couldn't be shortened enough.
>>Luckily, slips of the era were made of thin fabric that could be
>>folded small.
>
> I can remember hearing "it's snowing down south" and "your slip is
> showing" (though never directed at me, as I've never worn a slip (or
> petticoat)), though never "Charlie's dead". And the latter much more
> often than the former. Maybe it's an American vs. British thing.

Partridge suggests that "Charley's dead" was UK usage from the 70s
and was used between schoolgirls. I would imagine that at the time
the petticoats in question were what the US would call half-slips.

[Paul Dormer]

In article <qzwC9...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J

Heydt) wrote:

>
> But this might have been regional. Does any female person on
> this group remember "petticoat" in common usage in, say, the
> middle of the 20th century?

I'm not female but I'm sure I heard women's garments called petticoats in
the fifties and sixties. According to Wikipedia, in UK English, a
petticoat could be a full-length garment hanging from the shoulders worn
under a dress. Popular in the fifties, apparently, to flounce out the
skirt.

[Paul Dormer]

In article <qzwD...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt)
wrote:

>

> I clearly remember Duncan Lunan, who was in the habit of wearing
> a kilt on formal occasions, telling us the joke about the woman
> asking the kilted Scotsman, "What is worn under the kilt?" and
> getting the answer, "Nothing is worn under the kilt, madame; it's
> all in perfect working order."

That's a very old joke.

[Paul Dormer]

In article <qzwKw...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J

Heydt) wrote:

>
> I was a junior in high school. What I mostly remember about 1957
> is Sputnik. (Hal, eight years old, got to see it go by, but I
> never did.)

I was 4 that year and vaguely remember seeing a news report on our new TV.
(I also remember the US attempt to launch into orbit a few weeks later
that blew up on the pad. Scared the life out of me.)

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <memo.20210924...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk>,

I'm sure it is.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <slrnskrbo7...@azaal.plus.com>,

I quit wearing slips at all at some distant date I can't recall.
With the exception of two dresses made of translucent gauze:
great in hot weather, but needing an opaque slip underneath. I
think I still have them, but can't wear them at present. I've
gotten weak enough that if I have to leave the house for some
reason, I have to slide down ten concrete steps on my behind.
This requires wearing pants. :)

(Before you ask: to get back up again, I have to be lifted, a
step at a time, by two strong adults. Fortunately, I have two
strong adults available.)

[Kevrob]

ObSF: Dean Ing's story, extended to the novel "Soft Targets."

https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/very-proper-charlies

>
> * Of course berk is also rhyming slang. Berkshire Hunt.
> However both berk and charlie now just mean foolish
> rather than anything else.
> --
>

--
Kevin R

[Peter Trei]

The male equivalent I recall is "You're flying low."

Pt

[Bernard Peek]

"You're at half-mast" in the UK.


--
Bernard Peek
b...@shrdlu.com

[Kevrob]

"XYZ" - Examine your zipper.

"Your barn doors open."

Both US.

--
Kevin R

[garabik-ne...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk]

Kevrob <kev...@my-deja.com> wrote:

> Male nick names for female bodyparts are weird, or is that just me?

consider Spanish - the obscene word for penis is feminine, the
word for female genitals is masculine...

--
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| Radovan Garabík http://kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk/~garabik/ |
| __..--^^^--..__ garabik @ kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk |
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Antivirus alert: file .signature infected by signature virus.
Hi! I'm a signature virus! Copy me into your signature file to help me spread!

[Paul Dormer]

In article <siufh3$su3$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,

garabik-ne...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk () wrote:

>
> consider Spanish - the obscene word for penis is feminine, the
> word for female genitals is masculine...

As is often pointed out, grammatical gender has little to do with
biological gender, any more than red, green and blue quarks are actually
red, green and blue.

In German, the -chen diminutive suffix makes the noun neuter, independent
of the gender of the root word, so we have Das Mädchen for the little
girl and Das Ampelmännchen for the little traffic light man in Berlin.
(In a park just south of the Brandenburg gate there is a statue of the
man, anything but little.)

I remember a piece in Punch when it was still going in which someone
pointed that in French, the word for brassiere in masculine and the word
for hob-nailed boot is feminine.

[Gary McGath]

On 9/28/21 5:52 AM, Paul Dormer wrote:

> As is often pointed out, grammatical gender has little to do with
> biological gender, any more than red, green and blue quarks are actually
> red, green and blue.

The use of "gender" for "sex" was originally a euphemism. The word comes
from the same root as "genre." There's no inherent relationship to sex.
A number of languages, for instance, have different genders for animate
and inanimate entities.

>
> In German, the -chen diminutive suffix makes the noun neuter, independent
> of the gender of the root word, so we have Das Mädchen for the little
> girl and Das Ampelmännchen for the little traffic light man in Berlin.
> (In a park just south of the Brandenburg gate there is a statue of the
> man, anything but little.)

In German, a knife is neuter, a spoon is masculine, and a fork is
feminine. My mnemonic is that these are the least likely choices if you
go by biological analogy.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <siufh3$su3$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,

<garabik-ne...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk> wrote:
>Kevrob <kev...@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
>> Male nick names for female bodyparts are weird, or is that just me?
>
>consider Spanish - the obscene word for penis is feminine, the
>word for female genitals is masculine...
>

Randall Garrett used to complain that it should be "hisnia" and
"herterectomy."

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <memo.2021092...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk>,

Paul Dormer <p...@pauldormer.cix.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <siufh3$su3$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,
>garabik-ne...@kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk () wrote:
>
>>
>> consider Spanish - the obscene word for penis is feminine, the
>> word for female genitals is masculine...
>
>As is often pointed out, grammatical gender has little to do with
>biological gender, any more than red, green and blue quarks are actually
>red, green and blue.
>
>In German, the -chen diminutive suffix makes the noun neuter, independent
>of the gender of the root word, so we have Das Mädchen for the little
>girl and Das Ampelmännchen for the little traffic light man in Berlin.
>(In a park just south of the Brandenburg gate there is a statue of the
>man, anything but little.)

I believe I've already mentioned a student my German teacher
encountered (before my time) who hit on this feature and solved
the problem of trying to remember the genders of German nouns by
adding -chen or -lein to each one, making them all neuter.

This, she later said, worked for about one day, till she caught
on.

[Paul Dormer]

In article <r05EF...@kithrup.com>, djh...@kithrup.com (Dorothy J

Heydt) wrote:

>
> I believe I've already mentioned a student my German teacher
> encountered (before my time) who hit on this feature and solved
> the problem of trying to remember the genders of German nouns by
> adding -chen or -lein to each one, making them all neuter.

Many years ago I bought a book which had memory techniques for
remembering German words. To remember the gender you were supposed to
associate the word with something of the right gender. As I recall,
masculine nouns you'd associate with something masculine, like a boxer.
Of course, this was in the days before women boxing became mainstream.