The History of Slang: Part 2
Can euphemisms teach us about cultural attitudes over time?
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This is a weekly newsletter from me, Dani Faith Leonard , a comedy writer, film producer, and performer. It’s an extension of the live comedy show ADULT SEX ED that I’ve hosted since 2018. The show is about plugging the holes in our education as adults, so I’ll be doing just that (if you want to know more about this newsletter, here’s a description on substack).
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On November 18, 1992, what was to become my favorite episode of Seinfeld aired: The Contest. The episode pitted Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer, against each other to see who could last the longest abstaining from masturbation. Of course, I was way too young at the time to understand the episode and it probably wouldn’t have been explained to me for another few years. It would have been even more confusing to me because throughout the episode, they never used the actual word “masturbation.” Instead, they inquired if each were still the master of their domain. King of the county. Lord of the manor. Queen of the castle.
A few months ago, I posed a question in the newsletter: Can we learn about the evolution of cultural attitudes about gender, bodies and sex by exploring the history of slang? To find out, I did a deep dive on the history of euphemisms for the vagina (for the live show all the way back in 2019, and again for the newsletter in May). You can read the post here:
Today, I’m posing a similar question: Can we learn about the evolution of cultural attitudes about gender, bodies and sex by exploring euphemisms for masturbation? In 2013, British slang lexicographer Jonathon Green published a timeline of euphemisms. You can look through it for yourself here. I looked through the timeline and here are my takeaways:
The timeline of English slang for masturbation doesn’t even start until the 1600s! I’m sure people had euphemisms they were slinging around in person, but they didn’t make it into the written word. For contrast, euphemisms for sex and the body parts start in the 1200s. The 1600s euphemisms for male masturbation were a bit tame:
rub, milk oneself, play a lute solo, toss off.
The definitions of the euphemisms in the 1700s are telling about the views of masturbation in society:
box the jesuit and get cockroaches: a sea term for masturbation. A crime, it is said, much practiced by the reverend fathers of that society.
mount a corporal and four - to be guilty of onanism: the thumb is the corporal, the four fingers, the privates.
Both of these terms and definitions appeared Captain Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue and frame masturbation as something to be guilty of. A crime. Around the same time these euphemisms emerged, Samuel Tissot, a Catholic neurologist and Vatican advisor, published an article linking masturbation to insanity.
If you’re wondering, onanism is a term that can either refer to masturbation or pulling out, and has biblical origins. Early Jewish and Christian theologians linked masturbation to the end of the human race. Onan, second son of Judah, is a character that has a brief but tragic cameo early on in Old Testament. God asks Onan to have sex with his dead brother’s wife, but he’s not into it. He pulled out and came on the ground, so he was smote to death. Poor guy was put to death for spilling his seed! Nevertheless, onanism became a sinful synonym for masturbation.
People wrote about masturbation so infrequently until the late 1800s that there were only a smattering of euphemisms. Then, jerk off finally joined the lexicon in 1865.
In 1900 the first female-focused euphemism appears on the timeline: sling one’s jelly.
In the first half of the 1900s, men might:
shag, jack off, yank off, beat one’s meat, play solitaire.
The overall trend for the rest of the century is violence:
beating, flogging, whacking, punch the apple, choke the chicken.
For women, there haven’t been many written euphemisms over time. In fact, the entire timeline from the 1600s until the early 2000s includes less than 60 total, including:
jill off, flick the bean, glaze the donut, buff the muffin.
The only thing shocking to me about this timeline of slang is that I would think something as taboo as masturbation would have led to MORE euphemisms, not less. Cultural attitudes are changing in the western world; there are entire vibrator aisles at CVS and Target and masturbation is increasingly being linked to self care. So it makes sense that we’re also talking about it more and our newer euphemisms have cultural relevance (Pamela Handerson, diddling Miss Daisy, minding the gap, visiting the bat cave, ménage à moi).
This brings me back to the Seinfeld episode, which touched on cultural attitudes and taboos, but for the most part, absolutely crushed them. The event that sets the whole episode into motion is that George’s mother catches him in the act. Later in the episode, she calls him sick and tells him to see a psychiatrist. Historically, the view of masturbation has been sinful or criminal, so this tracks. Elaine is asked to put up more money because the men think it’s easier for women to abstain. But the inclusion of Elaine in the contest at all bursts through cultural norms and was really groundbreaking for the ‘90s.
Watch a clip from my favorite episode of television and enjoy being the queen of the castle (until you have an urge to rub one out because it’s completely healthy).
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Delightful post! As an historical novelist, I’ve had a copy of Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue on my bookshelf for years. My personal favorite: “common as a barber’s chair” to describe a “loose” woman; a prostitute.
The referenced Seinfeld episode was just on the other night at my sober living! I’m a Texas native living in California and enjoying the more accepting and inclusive culture. A side note about condoms being locked up now (at least in Walmart) along with some clothing items too lol. Honestly, don’t talk to the other guys at my house about masturbation, but I know it is practiced, lol. Thanks for the topic! :)