Six Centuries Of Colorful Slang Phrases That Mean, Well, You Know What They Mean

English is a colorful language, especially when it is not spoken formally. The language contains countless examples of wild and memorable slang words and phrases for just about everything. But not surprisingly, many of the most entertaining and inventive slang phrases have been inspired by, well, you know…

Sex! Yes, it is hardly any shock that the most basic of human activities is also one that has given rise to thousands of different, highly creative ways to say exactly the same thing.

Now, most of these slang synonyms for the sex act have a tendency to be rather crude, especially the more recent ones. We don’t need to give you examples. We’re sure you what we’re talking about.

Some can be also be surprisingly bland, like the vague “sleep with…” or the romantic but overused “make love.”

But thanks to author Jonathon Green, who has compiled entire dictionaries of slang terms for all sort of things, and linguist Arika Okrent who combed Green’s books for the good parts, we can now delve deep into history to bring you some of the strangest, funniest and sometimes just plain cutest slang terms for, you know, “it.”

There are plenty of great ones on this list, which back in the 17th century might have been considered very naughty, but today just sounds amusing. We think our favorites are, “fadoodling,” and “dance the Paphian jig.” Though, “play at rumpscuttle and clapperdepouch,” and “Arrive at the end of the sentimental journey” are pretty good too.

Here, then, thanks to Okrent and Green, are six centuries of slang phrases meaning, well, exactly what you think they mean — complete with dates when, according to Green, each phrase was most popular:

Give someone a green gown (1351)

Play nug-a-nug (1505)

Play the pyrdewy (1512)

Play at couch quail (1521)

Ride below the crupper (1578)

Board a land carrack (1604)

Fadoodling (1611)

Put the devil into hell (1616)

Night physic (1621)

Princum-prancum (1630)

Culbatizing exercise (1653)

Join paunches (1656)

Dance the Paphian jig (1656)

Play at tray trip of a die (1660)

Dance Barnaby (1664)

Shot twixt wind and water (1665)

Play at rantum-scantum (1667)

Blow off the groundsills (1674)

Play hey gammer cook (1674)

Join giblets (1680)

Play at rumpscuttle and clapperdepouch (1684)

Lerricompoop (1694)

Ride a dragon upon St. George (1698)

Houghmagandy (1700)

Pogue the hone (1719)

Make feet for children’s stockings (1785)

Dance the kipples (1796)

Have one’s corn ground (1800)

Horizontal refreshment (1863)

Arrive at the end of the sentimental journey (1896)

Get one’s ashes hauled (1910)

Just for fun, try using some of these slang phrases next time you find yourself in a, shall we say, personal conversation. Then let us know how people react.