If you’re not a fan of Sarah Silverman it’s understandable: there are many reasons not to like this comedian and social activist … all of them silly and immature.
Tag: vagina
As Good as Ever Twanged
I have just spent a few delightful and amusing minutes following a history of the human penchant for applying colorful expressions when referring to the genitals, male and female. It starts with an article on Slate titled, Furburger, the Irish Inch, and Other Names for Genitalia Through the Ages, by Katy Waldman
You and me [sic] may be nothing but mammals, but we are mammals that talk about sex a lot more than our cousins on the Discovery Channel. Now lexicographer Jonathan Green has created two interactive timelines tracing slang words for male and female genitalia through history. He’s compiled words for the penis and its satellite parts, going back to 1360, and also words for the mons pubis, going back to 1230.
Some fun facts: The earliest recorded name for the vagina—unprintable here—is still with us today. Testicles (“ballocks,” in Renaissance parlance) received an epithet before the male member (“pin,” 1460), while the most recent addition to the penis thesaurus is “bald-headed mouse” (2012).
The Slate article goes on to provide a choice selection of naughty euphemisms which I won’t copy here but I really recommend going to Green’s two interactive timelines to get the big picture. It took me a while to get the hang of the timeline software but after that I was soon lost in a tidal wave of prurient vocabulary and strong images of a bordello on the frontier catering to scalawags and galoots.
Whatever you do, don’t say vagina
This has been reprinted in several venues but I picked it up at The Daily Kos.
Idaho Teacher Under Investigation For Saying ‘Vagina’ During Biology Lesson
Yes, it’s really true.
The 10th grade science teacher is being investigated by the Professional Standards Commission of his school, for uttering the word vagina during a biology lesson. Some parents are upset at this teacher for using a word straight out of the approved textbook, and are seeking to have him investigated. Under what actual grounds they might have a case is not at all clear however.
The students are already even given the option to opt out of the horror of having to hear a term that designates a female organ.
Tim McDaniel, who teaches 10th grade science at Dietrich School, told the Twin Falls Times-News that four parents were upset when they learned that his lesson included the word “vagina” and information about the biology behind female orgasm.
A Celebration of Reading 