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Posts tagged Weird Reference Books
The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms
01 year ago
by Todd
in Reference Books
Front cover for The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms
By Jordan Tate
Published in 2007 by St Martin’s Press
I came across this book at a sidewalk sale of one of my favorite local booksellers. Having read it, it is easy to see why it didn’t sell well at full price. The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms begins on a bad note with E. J. Collins’ introduction. Collins claims that the euphemism began “from society’s inability to accept sexuality as a normal part of existence.” He further claims that the euphemism exists in modern times as a “shield and weapon” against the fragility of masculinity and bemoans that masculinity cannot define itself “independent of feminity.”
Collins misses the mark badly. He fails to acknowledge that the euphemism is a linguistic conceit. Though they can be used to obscure, they can also be used to illuminate a subject. Also, the euphemism is often employed to add humor to a subject. Unless you’re doing it wrong, sex should be fun (among other things). If all discussions about sexuality were somber and clinical, would it not be reasonable to assume that sexuality is likewise somber and clinical?
Unfortunately, the book never recovers from Collins’ introduction. Every entry in The Contemporary Dictionary of Sexual Euphemisms is presented in a disjointed, but consistent, fashion. Entries are presented in alphabetical order and typically have with three definitions – two absrurdist literalisms followed by an explanation of the euphemism’s real meaning. For example, the entry for “makin’ bacon” consists of:
- To prepare the salted and smoked meat from the back and sides of a pig.
- To cook or prepare salted and smoked meat from the back and sides of a pig by heating.
- Coitus (slang)
This dictionary style information is then followed by etymological information, a usage example, and a brief commentary about a euphemism’s origin. Some of the entries are photo-illustrated. But don’t get too excited, these illustrations are pictorial depictions of the literal absurdities being described. For example, the illustration for “hiding the salami” shows a girl on her knees sneakily putting a salami under a carpet.
Taken as a whole, the entries leave the reader puzzled as to the book’s intent. Is it intended to be a work of humor? A serious exploration of the change of language? A joke perpetrated on the reader? If Tate knows the answer, he never bothers to inform the reader. Had Tate had chosen any one of these ideas and fleshed them out, the book would not only have been more cohesive, it would have been entertaining. Instead we are left with a meandering mess that neither informs nor entertains. These major problems aside, Tate does deserve credit for including euphemism that are both humorous and vulgar.
Encyclopedia Sexualis Volumes 1 and 2
22 years ago
by Todd
in Reference Books
Encyclopedia Sexualis Volume 1 front cover
by Anonymous
Published in 1970 by Eros Publishing Company
Strictly speaking, Encyclopedia Sexualis is more dictionary than encyclopedia. Volume 1 covers letters A-L and Volume 2 covers letters M-Z. The terms described in each contain a hodge-podge of sexual terms from medicine, psychiatry, antiquity, and various forms of slang such as common, vulgar, military, and so on.
Because of their age, some of the terms mentioned have fallen out of favor or changed meanings. This is the book is at its best: a time capsule from a bygone era. For instance, did you know that an African toothache was any sort of venereal disease? Or that a canoe inspector doesn’t work on the river but instead in a hospital?
While it would have been easy for the book to editorialize or be silly, the compilers resisted these temptations. Definitions are presented in a concise factual manner free of judgment. Unfortunately, many of the definitions are far too concise even for a dictionary. The inclusion of word origins and/or pronunciations for obscure medical terms would make this a better reference. Also mysteriously absent is a key to explain the meaning of abbreviations. (To be fair, I didn’t have to strain too hard to figure out that “Vulg sl” was vulgar slang, but still.) Curiously, despite these omissions, the compiler’s felt it necessary to list a term’s part of speech.
Encyclopedia Sexualis Volume 2 front cover
My copy of Volume 1 has a sticker with a price of $6 which made me wonder if that was the original sales price. Since $6 in 1970 adjusted for inflation amounts to the prohibitive price of $31.18 in 2006 (the latest data available as of this writing1) I have to imagine the sticker was added later by a reseller.
While the book doesn’t shy away from including all sorts of slurs, it also covers terms that sexual subcultures use to describe each other. Equally impressive is the book’s scope as it includes terms that include homosexuals, the transgendered, the kinky, and so on.
With one or two minor exceptions, the editors obviously culled photos from a small group of photo sets and slapped labels to serve as the illustrations. At first, I thought the illustration for “animalism” and “bestiality” had been repeated, but a closer examination revealed the models hands were in slightly different positions. Humorously, the same group of three women is presented as the illustration for “Lesbians” with the dog cropped out of the picture. While the illustrations do little to enhance the book several are quite entertaining in their own right.
Despite the few criticisms, this is a really useful reference book. I’m sure the next time I encounter algolagnia in print, this will be the first reference source I check.
1. See the Bureau of Labor Statistics website at http://www.bls.gov/cpi/ if you want to check for yourself.