Not funny.
Stephen Black wrote:
> (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/
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
