I Never Knew There Was a Word for It - Adam Jacot De Boinod [134]
boombaloomba (Australian slang) an expression of a man’s attraction to a woman
look that needs suspenders (1940s) a very interested glance at a woman (the suspenders were needed to keep the man’s eyeballs attached to their sockets)
HUNTER DITHERERS
Not that everyone finds it easy to be so forward:
stick-up (Wiltshire) to make the first tentative advances towards courting
dangle (late 18C) to follow a woman without actually addressing her
quirkyalone (US slang 1999) someone who just wants the right person to come along at the right time even if that means waiting
FAINT HEART
Sometimes one just has to take the risk and get a bit proactive:
tapper (1950s) a boy who repeatedly pestered a girl for a date
wingwoman (US slang from the film Top Gun 1986) a professional female matchmaker who escorts a man to a bar or club, engages in light conversation to draw in other females, and then withdraws
strike breaker (1920s) a young woman who was ready to date her friend’s beau when a couple’s romance was coming to an end
rabbit’s-kiss (Anglo-Manx) a penalty in the game of ‘forfeits’ in which a man and woman have each to nibble the same piece of straw until their lips meet
DELIGHTFUL
Until 1958 debutantes and their mothers exchanged information about the respectable young men to whom they were introduced by using a special code:
FU Financially Unsound
MTF Must Touch Flesh
MSC Makes Skin Crawl
NSIT Not Safe In Taxis
VVSITPQ Very, Very Safe In Taxis, Probably Queer
THE WILDER SHORES OF LOVE
As homosexuality was illegal in the UK until 1967, the secret language of Polari was used to disguise gay subculture from the disapproving gaze of the law. It was originally used by circus and fairground performers who were equally keen to communicate with each other without their audience understanding. Drawn from Italian, Yiddish, Cockney rhyming slang and full of backwards words (such as ecaf for face) Polari provided various terms that we all use today, such as drag, camp and bimbo, as well as some less well-known but equally colourful expressions:
omi-polone a gay man (literally man-woman; a lesbian was polone-omi, a woman-man)
alamo hot for him
basket the bulge of male genitals through trousers
naff awful, dull, bad (said to stand for Not Available For F***ing)
CHEAP DATE
Whatever your proclivities, there are numerous reasons why one should beware of giving too much too soon:
couch cootie (US 1920s) a poor or miserly man who prefers to court a woman in her own house than take her out on the town
flat-wheeler (US college slang 1920s) a young man whose idea of entertaining a girl is to take her for a walk
cream-pot love (b.1811) professed by insincere young men to dairymaids, to get cream and other goods from them
GETTING DOWN TO IT
In the less permissive 1950s, a Nottingham goodnight was the phrase used of a courting couple who had got back from their date, and then slammed the door and said ‘goodnight’ loudly before retiring quietly to the sofa, hoping they would not be disturbed for some time …
suaviation (1656) a love kiss
cow-kissing (US slang mid 19C) kissing with much movement of the tongues and lips
lallygagger (1920s) a courting male who liked to kiss his sweetheart in hallways
bundling (b.1811) a man and a woman sleeping in the same bed, he with his clothes on, and she with her petticoat on
COUNTRY LOVING
But if the weather’s good, why bother to go home at all?
sproag (Scotland late 16C) to run among the haystacks after the girls at night
to give a girl a green gown (late 16C) to tumble her onto the grass
bunting time (1699) when the grass is high enough to hide young men and maids courting
boondock (Tennessee campus slang b.1950) to neck, pet or make love in an automobile
gulch (Newfoundland 1895) to frequent a sheltered hollow to engage in sexual intimacy
SEALED WITH A LOVING KISS – LOVE LETTER