Some friends and I were discussing English slang with someone who’d never heard the term “box” used to describe a woman’s genitals. I discovered your article in which you report that, “The use of ‘box’ as slang for vagina actually goes back to the 17th century.” Would you share your source for this?
This tidbit, like many Angry Grammarian factoids, comes from the ever-useful Oxford Dictionary of Slang, by John Ayto. When it comes to history and etymology, the ODS, which lists its entries by date, is much more useful than, say, Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com).
The Oxford Dictionary of Slang highlights how genitalia slang seems to be among the oldest and most enduring. While, as we reported last week, a phrase like “kick ass” dates back to just 1970, “bush,” “slit,” “twat” and “muff” all go back to the 17th century.
Men get even older slang that still endures: “tool,” “prick” and “meat” are all from the 16th century, while “cock” predates those by yet another 100 years. “Dick” dates from 1888.
All of which makes you wonder: If the telephone—and by extension, phone sex—wasn’t invented until the end of the 19th century, what did those horny medieval dirty-talkers need all those different words for?
Didn’t Hillary Clinton get the phrase exactly wrong when she said, “I think that the reports that you provide to us really require the willing suspension of disbelief”?
“Willing suspension of disbelief” was coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his 1817 Biographia Literaria, in which he also called it “poetic faith.” Coleridge was referring to the ability to stave off reality in order to enjoy whatever work of art is in front of you; Hillary Clinton, in her lecture to Gen. Petraeus, was more looking to call him out on his bent truths.
Coleridge’s “suspension” had the ultimate goal of appreciating beauty, but when looked at from a language point of view, Petraeus’ attempt to paint a rosy picture of Iraq is a work of art in itself.
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