nightandday
New Member
I used to think that the line 'a boy in the bush is worth two in the hand' was a wonderful example of Morrissey's wit...until, in my ongoing investigations of the fascinating world of English slang, I came upon this website yesterday: Dictionary of Sexual Terms As it turns out, it didn't take a helluova lot of imagination to come up with that line.
http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/push in the bush is worth two in the hand, a
"push in the bush is worth two in the hand, a:
Jocular C19 th British expression punning the expression: ' A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ', stating the fact that an act of copulation is worth two acts of masturbation . See copulation for synonyms."
http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/bush
"bush:
Colloquial term for:
1. The pubic-hair and genital area, especially that of a woman . Bush is one of the most enduring terms for pubic-hair . Damber bush, dilberry bush, furze(-bush), quim-bush , Fort-Bushy and others like it have all fallen into obsoleteness. See penis and vagina for synonyms.
Quotes:
(1) Booger (Curtis Armstrong) in Revenge of the Nerds (1984): ' This is bullshit - I want bush! '
(2) Anonymous limerick: ' Heres to America, land of the push / Where a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush / But if in that bush a fair maiden should stand / Then a push in the bush is worth two in the hand .'
(3) ' One orgasm in the bush is worth two in the hand .' From Graffiti. Two Thousand Years of Wall Writing by Robert Reisner."
Merge this with D.H.Lawrence's "A Boy In The Bush", and there you have it...
I wonder if any of you native speakers knew that there had already been such an expression? I had no idea.
(Speaking of that website, it's full of surprises, well, for me at least. I couldn't believe what they give as 19th century slang meaning of arsenal. And an even bigger shock was to find out about the expression performing a pearl jam! )
http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/push in the bush is worth two in the hand, a
"push in the bush is worth two in the hand, a:
Jocular C19 th British expression punning the expression: ' A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ', stating the fact that an act of copulation is worth two acts of masturbation . See copulation for synonyms."
http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/bush
"bush:
Colloquial term for:
1. The pubic-hair and genital area, especially that of a woman . Bush is one of the most enduring terms for pubic-hair . Damber bush, dilberry bush, furze(-bush), quim-bush , Fort-Bushy and others like it have all fallen into obsoleteness. See penis and vagina for synonyms.
Quotes:
(1) Booger (Curtis Armstrong) in Revenge of the Nerds (1984): ' This is bullshit - I want bush! '
(2) Anonymous limerick: ' Heres to America, land of the push / Where a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush / But if in that bush a fair maiden should stand / Then a push in the bush is worth two in the hand .'
(3) ' One orgasm in the bush is worth two in the hand .' From Graffiti. Two Thousand Years of Wall Writing by Robert Reisner."
Merge this with D.H.Lawrence's "A Boy In The Bush", and there you have it...
I wonder if any of you native speakers knew that there had already been such an expression? I had no idea.
(Speaking of that website, it's full of surprises, well, for me at least. I couldn't believe what they give as 19th century slang meaning of arsenal. And an even bigger shock was to find out about the expression performing a pearl jam! )