Tongue-tied over sex words

Tongue-tied over=20 sex words

By ANN MARIE McQUEEN -- Ottawa = Sun=20

There was one word in = particular which=20 stood out for Mark Morton after a year spent = researching=20 and writing his new book on the origin of words = about=20 sex and love.

The University of Winnipeg = English=20 assistant professor who wrote The Lover's = Tongue: A=20 Merry Romp Through the Language of Love and Sex = found=20 himself particularly attracted to the word = "merkin."=20

A merkin is a device best described as a = pubic=20 wig, and it was used to mask a particular = side-effect of=20 the syphilis which raged through much of = 18th-century=20 European aristocracy: Total hair loss. =

"I love=20 that word for so many reasons," says Morton, = with the=20 enthusiasm of a man both entirely engaged in the = English=20 language and possessing a healthy interest in = human=20 sexuality.

"It's a great word," he said, = remarking not only on how intersting it sounds = but how=20 "the very existence of a thing like that reveals = so much=20 about the culture which produced it." =

Morton,=20 who also serves as a language columnist on CBC = Radio's=20 Definitely Not the Opera, has written two other = books:=20 Cupboard of Love: A Dictionary of Culinary = Curiosities=20 and The End: Closing Words for a Millennium. =

His=20 interest in words stems back to a childhood = spent on a=20 farm in Saskatchewan, where he remembers being=20 fascinated by his parents' collection of old=20 dictionaries.

Morton went on to earn his = PhD in=20 literature and later tackle writing of his own, = though=20 he had to take a break after he took a turn = toward the=20 obsessive while writing Cupboard of Love. =

"For a=20 while I couldn't have a conversation without = thinking=20 about the words people were using," he says.=20

Fortunately he isn't having that problem = after=20 writing The Lover's Tongue, which he sees as a = natural=20 evolution from a book on words about food. = Morton has=20 had to contend with some fellow academics'=20 tongue-clucking and of course, his mother, who = enjoyed=20 Cupboard of Love but remains somewhat shocked at = the=20 content of his latest offering.

The = Lover's=20 Tongue is split into chapters -- which Morton = advises=20 are best read one at a time -- on everything = including=20 kissing, wooing and seducing, love, a fitting = and=20 intentionally brief conclusionary climax on the = orgasm=20 and a 15-page chapter titled The Ins and Outs of = the=20 In-and-Out: Copulation Words.

In one = section,=20 dubbed The Long and Short of It, Morton = painstakingly=20 lists some 1,300 words used to describe the = penis,=20 including the entire "one-eyed" series, the = ever-popular=20 "willy," the surprising "Senator Packwood," and = the=20 British "tallywhacker." When asked if he thinks = there=20 are any words he's missed, Morton, who provided=20 "lascivious intermission etymology" during his = Oct. 10=20 Ottawa Writers Festival appearance at = Durtygurls: An=20 Erotic Evening, concedes though his research was = exhaustive, the list is probably anything but.=20

"I suspect there are probably hundreds = and=20 hundreds of other words for the penis that never = got=20 recorded," he said.

"And so they've been = lost in=20 a sense."

The Lover's Tongue is = published by=20 Insomniac Press and is available in bookstores = this=20 month for $21.95.