like a herd of turtles

October 11, 2019 12:06 PM

Ever groped for trout in a peculiar river? Know the difference between a quimstake and a dry mouthed widow? Slang is one of the most delightful things about the English language, and nobody knows this better than Jonathon Green, the author of Green's Dictionary of Slang and perhaps the foremost lexicographer of slang in the world. We asked Green to explain a few of the weirdest ones. If you want to do your own reading, Green hosts a helpful list of timelines of slang organized by topic. [NSFW]
posted by sciatrix (7 comments total)

"I like slang," says I, clicking on links. "Let's have a look!"

"Oh, this is weird sex slang. And this appears to be slightly less weird sex slang." I lament, staring at the monitor of my work computer. "I wish there had been some kind of warning so I wouldn't have clicked on these."
posted by Zudz at 12:27 PM on October 11, 2019 [6 favorites]

....*facepalm* Let me just contact the mods on that one. I totally zonked.
posted by sciatrix at 12:44 PM on October 11, 2019

At first I thought it was a fishing post and was all "groping for trout would make a great bit of innuendo" and then I clicked on it and, oh, why yes it would!
posted by grumpybear69 at 1:47 PM on October 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

He seems a bit baffled about the cabbage-sex connection, but I though it was a known thing that peasants would often have sex out in the fields, the surrounding crops - such as cabbages - providing a little privacy (that could otherwise be difficult to find), which could easily result in slang like "take a turn among the cabbages".
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:00 PM on October 11, 2019 [1 favorite]

Cabbage also shows up in blues lyrics, e.g. Lil Johnson's "Anybody Want to Buy My Cabbage?". I don't think the reference requires a lot of explaining -- the frilly folded form of cabbage is enough...
posted by aws17576 at 5:55 PM on October 11, 2019 [2 favorites]

This visualisation of when slang words appeared and disappeared was pretty nifty too.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 2:34 AM on October 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

He seems a bit baffled about the cabbage-sex connection, but I though it was a known thing that peasants would often have sex out in the fields, the surrounding crops - such as cabbages - providing a little privacy (that could otherwise be difficult to find), which could easily result in slang like "take a turn among the cabbages".

I don't think it has to do with the etymology of the particular phrases under discussion but in a different way the connection between sex and leafy greens goes back further than you might expect.
posted by Nerd of the North at 1:45 AM on October 23, 2019