Call Me Naive...

Factual Questions
1

I wasn’t raised to talk about things euphamistically. My parents could always talk to me (parent to child) at a mature, adult level. So, when movies mention “The Clap”
what (VD?) disease is this? And, why is it called this?

Too big for my britches,

  • Jinx
2

The Clap is gonorrhea. I’m not exactly positive why it is called that but the Old English word claeppen means to throb. The slang term dates back to at least 1587.

Haj

3

The clap refers to gonorrhoea as hajario states.

A more likely derivation of the term is that a clapier or clapoir was a place of debauchery in the 16th century, hence the clap became the appellation for a (venereal) disease one could contract at such a venue.

The clap was standard English until circa 1850 when Victorian verbal prudery consigned the expression to the backwaters of slang English.

It disturbs me a little that my last five or six posts have been on the following subjects:

  1. Farting.
  2. The Origins Of Swear Words.
  3. Venereal Disease.

I must try to broaden my horizons a little.

4

How did you miss:

** “When did Uranus Get Pronounced YOUR uh nuss?” **

5

Old McDonald had a farm
EIEIO
And on his farm he had V.D.
EIEIO
With a
(clap) (clap) here
and a (clap) (clap)
Here a (clap), there a (clap)
Everywhere a (clap) (clap)
Old McDonald had a farm
EIEIO

And on this farm he had a father
EIEIO
With a . . .

But that’s a different thread. ;D