Several years ago while procrastinating working on my game, I was browsing through Farmer and Henley’s 1896 slang dictionary, as one so often does. Somehow, and probably for very noble reasons, I noticed that midway through there’s a glorious nine-page list of euphemisms under the heading “ᴍᴏɴᴏsʏʟʟᴀʙʟᴇ”.
(If you’re not immediately sure what the heading refers to, I invite you to skip down the page now and puzzle it out!)
Anyhow, for some reason I decided to copy out all the English listings, clean up the OCR’d text, and add it to my ideas file. I think I had the notion that it would make a fun easter-egg to slip one of the euphemisms into all of my game’s item descriptions. I never quite got around to doing that, but for the embetterment of the world I’m posting the English entries below in a nice browsable format.
PS: while there are a lot of gems here, the best of the bunch is “Hans Carvel’s ring” - basically a dirty joke that dates back at least to 1470. If you’re of a literary bent, check out this poetic version by Jean de la Fontaine (1621-1695) - you’ll be glad you did.
And now without futher digression:
From: Slang and its Analogues Past and Present
Compiled and edited by: John S. Farmer & W. E. Henley (1896)
Vol IV, pp 336-340
MONOSYLLABLE, (also DIVINE MONOSYLLABLE) subs, (venery).
The female pudendum; CUNT (q.v.)
ENGLISH SYNONYMS.
- A.B.C.
- Abraham’s bosom (generic)
- ace
- ace of spades
- Adam’s own
- agility
- agreeable ruts of life
- alcove
- alley
- almanack
- Alpha and Omega
- altar
- altar of Hymen
- altar of love
- altar of pleasure
- amulet
- antipodes
- aphrodisaical tennis court (URQUHART)
- arbour
- attic
- Aunt Maria
- axis
- baby-maker
- bag of tricks
- bank
- basket-maker
- bath of birth (WHITMAN)
- bazaar
- beauty
- beauty-spot
- bed-fellow
- bee-hive
- belle chose (CHAUCER)
- Belly Dale
- Belly Dingle
- belly-entrance
- Berkeley-Hunt (rhyming)
- best (DORSET)
- best in Christendom (ROCHESTER)
- best-worst part (DONNE)
- bird’s nest
- bit
- bite (GROSE)
- bit of fish, of jam, of meat, of mutton, of pork, of rough, or of skate
- bit on a fork
- Black (WILL. CAVENDISH)
- Black Bess
- black hole
- black (or brown, or grey) jock
- black ring
- blind eye
- Bluebeard’s closet
- boat
- bob-and-hit
- bonne-bouche
- bore
- Botany Bay
- book-binder’s wife (‘manufacturing in sheets’: G. A. STEVENS)
- Bottomless Pit
- bower
- bower of bliss (CAREW and HERRICK)
- box
- brat-getting place (FLORIO)
- breach
- breadwinner (prostitutes’)
- broom
- brown madam (GROSE)
- bucket
- Buckinger’s boot (GROSE)
- budget
- bull’s eye (ROCHESTER)
- bumbo (negro)
- bun
- bung-hole
- busby
- Bushey Park
- butcher’s shop
- butter-boat
- button-hole
- cabbage
- cabbage-field, -garden, or -patch
- cab-mat
- caldron (RAMSAY)
- callibistry (URQUHART)
- can
- candlestick
- canister (BURNS)
- Cape Horn
- Cape of Good Hope
- carnal-trap (URQUHART)
- case
- cat (DURFEY)
- catch-‘em-alive-o
- cat’s-meat
- catherine wheel
- cauliflower
- cave of harmony
- caze (BURTON)
- cellar (R. BROME)
- cellarage
- cellar-door
- central furrow (CLELLAND)
- central office
- centre of attraction
- centre-of-bliss
- centrique part (DONNE)
- certificate of birth
- chat
- chink
- chum
- churn
- circle (SHAKSPEARE and CONGREVE)
- civet
- claff (LYNDSAY)
- clap-trap
- cleft of flesh (CLELLAND)
- clock
- cloth (generic)
- the clouds
- cloven spot (CLELLAND)
- cock
- Cock-Alley
- cock-chafer
- cock-holder
- Cock-Inn
- Cock-Lane
- cockloft
- cockpit
- Cockshire
- cockshy
- coffee-shop
- cogie (Scots’)
- commodity (SHAKSPEARE, etc.)
- concern
- coney
- confessional
- conjuring-book (DURFEY)
- contrapunctum (URQUHART)
- conundrum
- cookie
- copy-hold (DURFEY)
- corner-cupboard
- cornucopia
- County-Down
- coupler
- covered way (STERNE)
- coynte (BURTON)
- coyote
- crack
- cradle
- cranny
- cream-jug
- crevice
- crinkum-crankum
- crooked way
- crown of sense (ROCHESTER)
- cuckoo’s nest
- cunnie (DURFEY)
- cunnikin
- cunny-burrow (URQUHART)
- cunt-kin
- cuntlet
- Cupid’s-Alley, (-anvil, -arbour, -cave, -cloister, -corner, -cupboard, -highway, -ring, or -pincushion)
- cushat
- cushion
- custom-house
- custom-house goods (a harlot’s: ‘because fairly entered’: GROSE)
- cut-and-come-again
- Cyprian-arbour, -cave, or -strait (CAREW)
- daisy
- dark, or dark-hole
- dearest bodily part (SHAKSPEARE)
- diddle
- diddly-pout
- dimple
- doodle-case
- doodle-sack
- dormouse
- down bed of beauty (STEVENS)
- Downshire
- down-stairs
- downy-bit
- drain
- dripping-pan
- duck pond
- dumb-glutton
- dumb-, or -hairy-, oracle
- dumb-squint
- duster
- Dutch clock
- dyke
- eel-pot (or -trap)
- eel-skinner
- End of the Sentimental Journey (STERNE)
- entrance
- Et-cetera (ROCHESTER and CLELLAND)
- evergreen
- everlasting wound
- Eve’s custom-house (‘where Adam made the first entry’: GROSE)
- exchequer (DONNE)
- Exeter-hall
- eye that weeps most when best pleased (STEVENS)
- factotum
- fancy bit
- Fanny
- Fanny-Artful
- Fanny-Fair
- faucett
- fiddle (BURNS)
- fie-for-shame (schoolgirls’)
- fig
- firelock
- fireplace
- firework
- fish (generic)
- fish-market
- flap
- flapdoodle
- fleshly-idol (BROWN)
- fleshly-part
- flower
- flower of chivalry
- flowerpot
- fly-by-night
- fly-cage
- fly-trap
- forecaster
- forecastle
- fore-hatch
- fore-room
- forewoman
- forge
- fort
- fortress
- fountain of love
- free fishery
- front-garden
- front-gut
- front-parlor
- fruitful vine (‘which bears flowers every four weeks, and fruit every nine months’: GROSE)
- Fumbler’s-Hall
- funniment
- furrow (BURNS)
- gallimaufry
- gap (DURFEY)
- garden
- Garden of Eden
- gash
- Gate of Horn
- Gate of Life (BURNS)
- G.C.
- gentleman’s pleasure garden
- garrison (CROWNE)
- gear (FLORIO)
- gigg (GROSE)
- goatmilker
- goldfinch’s nest
- gravy-giver
- greens (generic)
- green meadow
- grotto
- Grove of Eglantine (CAREW)
- grummett (?)
- gully
- gut-entrance
- gutter
- gymnasium
- gyvel (BURNS)
- Hair-court
- Hairyfordshire
- hairy ring
- half-moon (KILLIGREW)
- Hans Carvel’s ring (URQUHART and PRIOR)
- happy hunting-grounds
- harbour
- harbour of hope
- hatchway
- heaven
- hell
- hole of content (FLORIO)
- hole of holes
- Holloway
- home-sweet-home
- horse-collar
- hotel
- house under the hill
- housewife
- hypogastrian cranny (URQUHART)
- India (DONNE)
- ineffable
- inglenook
- intercrural trench (URQUHART)
- It
- itcher
- Itching Jenny
- Ivory Gate
- Jacob’s Ladder
- Jack Straw’s Castle
- jam-pot
- jelly-bag
- jewel
- jigger
- jock
- justum (URQUHART)
- kaze
- keifer (generic)
- kennel (ROCHESTER)
- kettle (DURFEY, etc.)
- kitchen
- Kitty
- knick-knack
- ladder
- Lady Berkeley
- lady-flower (WHITMAN)
- Lady Jane
- lady-star (HALL)
- lamp of love
- Lapland
- lather-maker
- leading article
- lea-rigs (generic: BURNS)
- leather (generic: URQUHART, LYNDSAY, BURNS)
- Leather-Lane
- leavingshop
- Life’s Dainty (G. A. STEVENS)
- ling
- little sister
- little spot where uncle’s doodle goes
- living fountain (HERRICK)
- lobster-pot
- lock
- locker
- lock of all locks (STEVENS)
- Love-lane
- Love’s harbour (CAREW)
- Love’s Paradise (MARSTON)
- Lowlands
- Low Countries
- lucky-bag
- machine
- maddikin
- Madge (GROSE)
- Madge Howlett
- magnet
- main avenue (CLELLAND)
- malkin (LYNDSAY)
- mangle
- man-hole
- man-trap
- Marble Arch
- mark (DURFEY)
- mark-of-the-beast
- Mary-Jane
- masterpiece
- meat (generic)
- meat-market
- medlar
- melting-pot
- merkin (R. FLETCHER, and A. SMITH)
- Middle Kingdom
- Midlands
- milker
- milking-pail
- milk-pan
- milt-market
- mill (DURFEY, BURNS, etc.)
- milliner’s shop
- mine of pleasure
- miraculous cairn
- Miss Brown (GROSE)
- Miss Laycock (GROSE)
- modicum (COTTON)
- money (GROSE)
- money-box
- money-maker
- money-spinner
- monkey (American)
- mole-catcher
- Molly’s Hole
- Mons Meg
- mortar
- moss-rose
- mossy bank
- mossy cell
- mossy-face
- mother of all saints, all souls, or St. Patrick
- Mount-Faulcon (FLORIO)
- Mount Pleasant
- mouse
- mouser
- mouse-trap
- mouth thankless (Old Scots’ : KENNEDY, LYNDSAY, SCOTT)
- mouth that says no word about it (G. A. STEVENS)
- muff (BURNS)
- mumble-peg
- mushroom
- mustard-pot
- mutton (generic and universal)
- Naggie
- name-it-not
- nameless
- nature
- nature’s tufted treasure
- naughty
- needle-case
- nest (American)
- nest in the bush
- nether eye, or lips (CHAUCER)
- never-out
- niche
- niche-cock
- nick-in-the-notch
- nonny-nonny
- non-such
- notch
- novelty
- Number-Nip
- nursery
- Old Ding
- old hat (FIELDING and STERNE)
- old woman
- omnibus
- open C
- oracle
- orchard
- ornament
- orifice
- open charms (LITTLE)
- oven
- oyster (KILLIGREW)
- oyster-catcher
- palace of pleasure
- pancake
- parenthesis (JON BEE)
- parsley-bed (DURFEY)
- parts of shame (POPE)
- patch
- peculiar river (SHAKSPEARE)
- penwiper
- periwinkle
- pfotz (HALL STEVENSON)
- pincushion
- pintle-case
- pipe
- pisser
- pit (HERRICK)
- pitcher
- pit-mouth
- pit of darkness
- place
- placket-box (DURFEY)
- pleasure-boat
- pleasure ground
- pleasure’s place (DAVIS)
- plum-tree (COTGRAVE)
- p-maker
- portal to the bower of bliss (HERRICK)
- postern gate to the Elysian fields (HERRICK)
- pouter
- premises
- pretty
- prick-holder
- prick-skinner
- prin-cock (DUNBAR)
- privates
- privities
- privy-hole
- privy Paradise
- pudend (URQUHART)
- punse (YIDDISH)
- pulpit (old)
- purse (DONNE)
- puss (DURFEY and COTTON)
- pulse
- pussy-cat
- quaint
- quarry
- quaver-case (A. SCOTT)
- Queen of Holes (ROCHESTER)
- quem
- queynte (CHAUCER and FLORIO)
- quim
- quimsby
- quivive
- rasp
- rattle-ballocks
- receipt of custom
- red ace
- Red-C.
- regulator (BURNS)
- rest-and-be-thankful
- ring
- road to a christening
- roasting jack
- rob-the-ruffian
- rooster
- rose
- rough-O
- rough malkin
- rough-and-ready
- rough-and-tumble
- rufus
- sack (DURFEY)
- saddle
- salt-cellar
- sampler
- scabbard
- scuttle
- seal
- sear
- secret parts (SHAKSPEARE)
- seed-plot
- seminary
- sex
- shake-bag
- sharp-and-blunt (rhyming)
- sheath
- shell (LYNDSAY and DUNBAR)
- skin-coat (URQUHART)
- skin-the-pizzle
- slipper
- slit
- slot
- Smock-Alley
- snatch (American)
- snatch-blatch (MOTTEUX)
- snatch-box
- socket (JONSON)
- solution of continuity (URQUHART)
- South Pole
- spender
- sperm-sucker
- spit-fire
- spinning-jenny
- split-apricot
- split-fig
- split-mutton (generic)
- spleuchan (BURNS)
- sporran
- Sportsman’s Gap
- Sportsman’s Hole
- spot of Cupid’s archery (ROCHESTER)
- square push (American)
- standing room for one
- star
- star over the garter (LORD CORK)
- Stream’s Town (Irish: GROSE)
- suck-and-swallow
- sugar-basin
- tail (general)
- target
- teazle (RAMSAY)
- temple of Venus
- tench
- tenuc (back-slang)
- that
- Thatched House
- thing
- thingamy
- thingumbob
- tickler
- tickle-Thomas
- tickle-toby
- tile
- tirly-whirly (BURNS)
- tit-mouse
- toll-dish (DURFEY)
- tool-chest
- touch-‘em-up
- touch-hole
- towdie (DUNBAR)
- tow-wow (A. SMITH)
- towsy-mowsy (DORSET)
- toy (ETHEREGE)
- toy-shop
- treasure
- treasury of love (CLELLAND)
- tu quoque (GROSE)
- turnpike
- tuzzi-muzzy
- twat (DURFEY)
- twachylle
- twittle
- tunnel
- under-belongings
- under-dimple
- under-entrance
- under-world
- undeniable
- Upper Holloway
- upright wink
- undertaker
- vacuum
- vade-mecum
- Venus’s Secret Cell, Highway, Honey pot, or Mark
- vessel (SEMPLE)
- vestry
- vineyard
- wame (BURNS)
- wanton ace
- ware
- waste-pipe
- water-box (FLORIO)
- water-gap (URQUHART)
- water-gate (DURFEY)
- water-mill (GROSE)
- way-in
- wayside-fountain
- wayside-ditch
- weather-gig (DURFEY)
- what-do-you-call-it
- whim-wham
- wicket
- wonderful lamp
- workshop
- yoni
- you-know-what
- yum-yum