Euphemism

[Annette Bethke]

A friend recently came across the following in an 1862 letter from a husband to his wife:

"Write every thing you know and when you write that then let me know
>> if any more of the women has ben playing leapfrog and lizard with the
>> men. If they are fond of the gaim and they havent got any boddy to
>> play with them tell them to send over after us. We want to play
> that sort of a gaim the worst sort."

We assume the gentleman is talking about sex but can find no period reference for these terms; has anyone else found these terms? Yes, we have found modern references, but not period. Did they mean the same thing? Or are we just dirty minded and the terms are really quite innocent?

[Hank Trent]

Re: Euphemism

Funny you should mention that. There's the game leapfrog, but I ran across "leapfrog" as a description of anatomy, and couldn't find another period use. It was in an 1837 slave runaway ad, saying the runaway had a scar "on his leapfrog the bite of a dog."

I took it to mean buttocks, but would be glad to see another similar reference showing otherwise.

In the case of the ad, the owner of the leapfrog was male, but if it did mean the buttocks of either sex, "leapfrog and lizard" becomes an even more obvious euphemism.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[Archie R. Lib]

Re: Euphemism

The earliest reference I have seen to either one of those terms is a British WWI reference to activity with some of the more "entrepreneurial" ladies of Flanders and France. "Playing Leapfrong" was indeed a euphemism they used for a particular and preferred variant of the act they were paying for. (See Over the Top by Arthur Guy Empey, published in 1917). I believe there is also a reference to this from American troops from the AEF in Joseph Persico's Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour.

Obviously, this is 50 years later. However, the Victorian era (which could be a bit stodgy when it came to sex) was nearly 70 years long and WWI was right on the tail end of it. It would seem natural that many such euphemisms would be common to the era.

Thanks for posting it.

Thanks,
Rich

[tenfed1861]

Re: Euphemism

The fact that he is writing to his wive about sending women over to play leapfrog and lizard is interesting in deed.If we think of the game of leapfrog,we can see how it could be used as a reference to sex.

"If they are fond of the gaim and they havent got any boddy to play with them tell them to send over after us."

This to me does sound like some sort of sexual talk.It's almost as if he is asking for his wife to send prostitutes to the camp for all the (hopefully,but I highly doubt) un-married men.I'd have to check,but I believe Dr. Lowry's book Sex in the Civil War does speak of the men using a lot of euphemisms when it comes to sex.Case in point,"soiled dove".
Just my 2% of 100 pennies.