Happy to oblige, and please merge with any existing merkin threads that I may have overlooked:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin
Merkin
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<!-- start content --> A merkin (first use, according to the OED, 1617) is reported to be a pubic wig, worn by prostitutes after shaving their genitalia to eliminate lice or to disguise the marks of syphilis. A similar, though anachronistic, claim not made in OED is that merkins were worn for nude stage appearances. The narrator of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita (1955) recalls "Although I told myself I was looking merely for a soothing presence, a glorified pot-au-feu, an animated merkin, what really attracted me to Valeria was the imitation she gave of a little girl." This, the first appearance of the word by an established author— one with an unbounded appetite for curiosities of language and culture— demonstrates that "merkin" is not merely an undergraduate prank of the 1950s [1]. Pynchon, in Gravity's Rainbow says "He wears a false cunt and merkin of sable both handcrafted...by the notorious Mme. Ophir" while the character of President Merkin Muffley in Stanley Kubrick's black comedy Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is satirically named after this object.
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary does not have a listing, but Houghton Mifflin's American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition does, and gives an etymology "alteration of obsolete malkin, lower-class woman, mop, from Middle English; from Malkin, diminutive of the personal name Matilda."[2] The Hutchinson Encyclopaedia 2000 has a brief listing:" pubic wig."
A "short and curly history of the merkin" in The Guardian June 26, 2003 purported to give some merkin history, when "comedy terrorist" Aaron Barschak, in a pink ballgown at the gates of Windsor, raised it to flash a merkin for onlookers. [3]
"Merkin" is also used to refer to a male sex-toy in the humorous novels of Tom Sharpe.
"A Merkin" has been slang for (an) American since the 1960s. Originally used for its risqué meaning, it has become common internet slang for Americans by non-Americans. A particularly popular target is President George W. Bush, whose name, unpopularity and meagre diction complete the joke. (not to mention that "bush" is also slang for female pubic hair!) Usually derogatory, it is also used as an alternative to "USAnian" to distinguish US Americans from Canadians when discussing North American inhabitants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin
Merkin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Jump to: navigation, search
<!-- start content --> A merkin (first use, according to the OED, 1617) is reported to be a pubic wig, worn by prostitutes after shaving their genitalia to eliminate lice or to disguise the marks of syphilis. A similar, though anachronistic, claim not made in OED is that merkins were worn for nude stage appearances. The narrator of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita (1955) recalls "Although I told myself I was looking merely for a soothing presence, a glorified pot-au-feu, an animated merkin, what really attracted me to Valeria was the imitation she gave of a little girl." This, the first appearance of the word by an established author— one with an unbounded appetite for curiosities of language and culture— demonstrates that "merkin" is not merely an undergraduate prank of the 1950s [1]. Pynchon, in Gravity's Rainbow says "He wears a false cunt and merkin of sable both handcrafted...by the notorious Mme. Ophir" while the character of President Merkin Muffley in Stanley Kubrick's black comedy Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is satirically named after this object.
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary does not have a listing, but Houghton Mifflin's American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition does, and gives an etymology "alteration of obsolete malkin, lower-class woman, mop, from Middle English; from Malkin, diminutive of the personal name Matilda."[2] The Hutchinson Encyclopaedia 2000 has a brief listing:" pubic wig."
A "short and curly history of the merkin" in The Guardian June 26, 2003 purported to give some merkin history, when "comedy terrorist" Aaron Barschak, in a pink ballgown at the gates of Windsor, raised it to flash a merkin for onlookers. [3]
"Merkin" is also used to refer to a male sex-toy in the humorous novels of Tom Sharpe.
"A Merkin" has been slang for (an) American since the 1960s. Originally used for its risqué meaning, it has become common internet slang for Americans by non-Americans. A particularly popular target is President George W. Bush, whose name, unpopularity and meagre diction complete the joke. (not to mention that "bush" is also slang for female pubic hair!) Usually derogatory, it is also used as an alternative to "USAnian" to distinguish US Americans from Canadians when discussing North American inhabitants.
