Posted by Robert Hill on August 05, 1998 at 13:11:32:
In Reply to: Re: Titty...and other double entendres... posted by Dave Thewlis on August 03, 1998 at 03:38:10:
I have not heard any dodgy meaning of 'dorothy' (or 'dorothea') and
neither has the online OED, which gives only the innocent phrases
'Dorothy Perkins' (a type of rambling rose) and 'dorothy bag'.
But some of the others go back a long way. 'Roger' as a verb is cited
from 1711, and while the earliest quotation for 'titty' in exactly
that form is 1857, the entry for 'teat' shows forms like 'titto' and
'titta' going back a thousand years (including a quotation from the
Lindisfarne Gospels circa 950). (These may be inflections of a
single word - I don't know my Anglo-Saxon declensions).
'Dick' is quoted from a book on slang published in 1891, and since
words or usages of that kind are slow to get into print, it was
probably in spoken use long before.
The oldest quotation for 'john' is from a book on American speech
(1932) but there is also a marvellous quotation from the laws of
Harvard University from 1735: 'No freshman shall mingo against the
College wall or go into the fellows' cuzjohn.' Ah! the privileges
of being in one's second year!
'Nancy' is quoted from 1904.