Discussion:
Slang meaning of 'wood'
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Frederick Williams
2009-01-11 13:15:49 UTC
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I think 'wood' for 'erection' is an Americanism. Is it a recent one?
Specifically, would it have been known in Britain in the fifties?
--
But you see, I can believe a thing without understanding it.
It's all a matter of training.
--Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy L Sayers' _Have His Carcase_
Egbert White
2009-01-11 18:33:35 UTC
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On Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:15:49 +0000, Frederick Williams
Post by Frederick Williams
I think 'wood' for 'erection' is an Americanism. Is it a recent one?
Specifically, would it have been known in Britain in the fifties?
I haven't seen or heard 'wood' for an erection, but I have encountered
'woody.' I don't see 'woody' in that sense in a couple of American
dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary has

| DRAFT ADDITIONS SEPTEMBER 2006
| woody, n.
| * slang. An erection of the penis.

The first attestation (from rec.autos, a Usenet newsgroup) is dated
1990.

A woody was also a wood-paneled station wagon. I don't know if they
still make such a thing. A man who owned an old one told me it was
infested with termites.
Miss Elaine Eos
2009-01-15 01:39:05 UTC
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Post by Egbert White
On Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:15:49 +0000, Frederick Williams
Post by Frederick Williams
I think 'wood' for 'erection' is an Americanism. Is it a recent one?
Specifically, would it have been known in Britain in the fifties?
I haven't seen or heard 'wood' for an erection, but I have encountered
'woody.' I don't see 'woody' in that sense in a couple of American
dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary has
FWIW, "wood" is also common American slang. "I've got a woody", "that
gives me a woody", "I'm starting to get some wood", "she's giving me
wood", "when Obama talks, my brother gets some serious wood", etc...

It's sort of a slangism on top of slang to do that to any slang term,
though -- it's not specific to wood.
--
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Frederick Williams
2009-01-15 12:21:58 UTC
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Post by Miss Elaine Eos
Post by Egbert White
On Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:15:49 +0000, Frederick Williams
Post by Frederick Williams
I think 'wood' for 'erection' is an Americanism. Is it a recent one?
Specifically, would it have been known in Britain in the fifties?
I haven't seen or heard 'wood' for an erection, but I have encountered
'woody.' I don't see 'woody' in that sense in a couple of American
dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary has
FWIW, "wood" is also common American slang. "I've got a woody", "that
gives me a woody", "I'm starting to get some wood", "she's giving me
wood", "when Obama talks, my brother gets some serious wood", etc...
Do you know when it dates from?
Post by Miss Elaine Eos
It's sort of a slangism on top of slang to do that to any slang term,
though -- it's not specific to wood.
--
But you see, I can believe a thing without understanding it.
It's all a matter of training.
--Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy L Sayers' _Have His Carcase_
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