An endless source of amusement and instruction is W. H. Auden's commonplace book, A Certain World (London, Faber and Faber, 1971). On page 269 he lists some euphemistic terms for the genitals:
Male
Bald-headed hermit
Dr. Johnson
Fiddle-bow
Silent (one eyed) Flute
Gosse's Neck
Hampton Wick
Jack-in-the-cellar
Ladyweave
Nimrod
Stargazer
Tackle
Titmouse
Donkey
Giggle-stick
Impudence
Power
Rector
Female
Ace of Spades
Almanack
Cabbage
Fart-Daniel
Fig
Front-Attic (or Front Garden)
Fumbler's Hall
Garden gate
Goldfinch's Nest
Grotto
Gyvel
Jacob's Ladder
Leather Lane
Lobster Pot
Mother of St. Patrick
Milliner's Shop
Jack Nasty-Face
Oyster
Penwiper
Purse
Receipt of Custom
Regulator
Hans Carvel's Ring
Saddle
Sportman's Gap
Teazle
Growler
Many of these have an eighteenth century feel and most are now, alas, obsolete. Only 'Hampton Wick' - rhyming slang for prick and usually shortened to Hampton or Hamptons - is still in circulation (at least in the chortling context of Carry On films).
In 1989 a young Toby Litt (not yet an acclaimed novelist) contributed an excellent article to The Auden Society Newsletter about the poet's appearances in the Oxford English Dictionary (of which there are over 700). Here's an extract:
Among Auden's more notable citations are: the first pejorative use of "queer", the first printed use of "ponce" to designate an effeminate homosexual, of "toilet-humour", of "agent" in the sense of a secret agent or spy, of "dedicated" to mean a person "single-minded in loyalty to his beliefs or in his artistic or personal integrity", of "shagged" meaning "weary, exhausted", and of "stud" for a person "displaying masculine sexual characteristics". Further curiosities are the first printed appearance in English of the surrealist term "objet trouvé" and the first printed use of "What's yours?" as an invitation given by the person buying the next round of drinks.
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| Toby Litt |
Auden was also, according to Edward Mendelson in his introduction to The Prolific and the Devourer, the first person to use the word 'apolitical' in print. Where would we be without him?
Extract from A Certain World © The Estate of W. H. Auden
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