Entries from A Dictionary of Catch Phrases: American and British, from the Sixteenth Century to the Present Day by Eric Partridge, a book I received as a gift when I was ten years old:
she would sell her hole for half a dollar is a contemptuous ref. to a girl lacking in self-respect: C20.
she's been fucked more times than she's had hot dinners or she's had more fucks than you've had hot dinners. A low, proletarian c.p. of late C19-20. The male counterpart is I've had more women than you've had hot dinners, q.v.
she's good (or very good) to the poor has, since c.1910, been a prostitutes' 'catty' c.p., applied to one who cuts her price, and thus lets the sisterhood down.
she's sitting on a goldmine. A 'men only' c.p., usu. applied to an attractive, demure girl apparently unaware of her own charms. 'The ref. is to prostitution, of course. Services', certainly during my own time (1953-74), and probably long before' (P.B., 1977). It was current during WW2, but often referring to part-time prostitutes or to 'enthusiastic amateurs', as the phrase went.
rough as bags and twice as dirty (or nasty). An Australian soldiers' c.p. of 1915-18, it was applied to the prostitutes frequenting the neighborhood of Horseferry Road, London, where the AIF headquarters occupied a building. Cf the Aus. simile (as) rough as bags and the Eng. (as) rough as a sandbag, uncouth.
And my all-time favorite...
she has (or she's got) round heels is, in Canada, directed at a very accommodating female, her heels being so round that a mere nudge will put her on her back.
I don't know how "catchy" these phrases are in this day and age --can you imagine Christian Siriano from Project Runway calling someone a "round heels" instead of "a hot, tranny mess"?--but they are certainly some saucy alternatives to boring old slut and ho. Personally, if someone was going to call me a derogatory name I'd appreciate if they put a little thought into it.
Friday, August 1, 2008
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