Victorian cocksuckers
I have been watching Season One of Deadwood and while I did not instantly feel the love of the show, it is quite catching and I have now watched 8 episodes in 3 days. Most of the actors are excellent - Timothy Olyphant does a great job and has won a little respect from me, as I previously only knew him as the drug dealer from the Sarah Polley movie Go and the "I had these enormous fucking metal hands" episode of Sex in the City, Molly Parker, Brad Dourif (who I will always remember as the crazy psychic murderer Luther Lee Boggs in the X-Files), Powers Boothe, and Ian Mcshane, just to name a few. But while it is very authentic, the one thing I would like to know is did they really use the word "cocksucker" in 1876? It seems to be a favourite of all the characters, and granted, it is a good word, but I don't know if it's a good word that was used in 1876. Would one of my know-it-all blog friends (not mentioning any names) like to do some research on that and find out for me?
posted by WMJenner at 10:18 a.m.
2 Comments:
Well, not surprisingly, other people've been talking about it online (although they're not sure of the answer either), such as here:
http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/6347
11:20 p.m.
According to the OED (in which we MUST all have faith!) it begins here: "12. a. A spout or short pipe serving as a channel for passing liquids through, and having an appliance for regulating or stopping the flow; a tap."
But then: "20. = Penis: Ger. hahn, hähnchen.
(The current name among the people, but, pudoris causa, not admissible in polite speech or literature; in scientific language the Latin is used. In origin perhaps intimately connected with sense 12.)"
The idea of a cocksucker comes from 23.: "cocksucker coarse slang, a fellator; freq. used as a generalized term of abuse; so cock-sucking ppl. adj."
When discussing uses, they mention:
"1891 FARMER Slang II. 144/1 *Cock-sucker, a fellatrix. 1935 J. T. FARRELL Guillotine Party 253 ‘You know what I am?’ he asked, as if in self-torture. ‘Yes,’ Jack said casually. ‘I'm a c..........’ 1962 J. BALDWIN Another Country (1963) II. iii. 271 If it wasn't for the spooks wouldn't a damn one of you white cock suckers ever get laid. 1969 P. ROTH Portnoy's Complaint 116 My father said ‘No’ to one after another of the thousand little accesories the cock-sucker wanted to sell us. 1923 E. E. CUMMINGS Let. 28 July (1969) 99 Being members..of the *cocksucking leisure class. 1969 C. HIMES Blind Man with Pistol xxi. 226 Mother-raping cocksucking turdeating bastard, are you blind?"
Does this help?
3:22 p.m.
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