(No, this is not about an Ingmar Bergman film)
Do people remember my urgent query about a possible vulgar
connotation of the term "fanny"? Thanks to alert TIPSters, I can
now summarize the results of my inquiry. 'Tis true. In Britain,
Ireland, Australia, and the West Indies, "fanny" is a term used
to designate the vagina and not the buttocks, as it is understood
in North America. Thus users of the phrase "fanny pack" in the
above-mentioned countries, beware! However, my informants were
split concerning how scandalized people in those countries would
be if the term was inadvertently used by an unsuspecting North
American. Estimates ranged from "shocked" to "mildly amused".
Obviously further research is necessary.
This discovery does raise some interesting questions. For
example, would an unfortunate child given the name Fanny in these
countries suffer the same opprobrium as one named Vagina or Penis
would in Canada or the U.S.? And where did this association come
from? There's a famous 18th century bawdy novel called _The
Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure or Fanny Hill_ by John Cleland.
Did "fanny" come to mean "vagina" as a result of that notorious
and often-banned book? Or was Cleland using an already
established meaning to hint at the content of his novel (a hint
that no North American would catch)?
And what does my query have to do with psychology? It turns out
that a paper was published not too long ago which claimed (I am
not making this up) that the smell of older women could function
as a mood brightener. I took exception to the analysis of the
data, and put together a critique of it. Given the rather unusual
topic, and in a fit of deplorable silliness, I composed the
abstract in bad verse. I needed a rhyme for granny. The rest is
history.
-Stephen
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
