Struck me that there are a few phases/words that have fallen out of fashion but I actually still quite like.
To give you an example ‘Muff diving’ - presumably a thing of the 70’s when pubic hairstyles were more ‘au naturel’.
Another word I really quite like is ‘quim’.
It can be derogatory, but I guess it depends on the situation and how it is used. A bit like the ‘c’ word.
It is actually a very old word with a bit of an unknown etymology:-
Because the slang term quim seems to have been considered extremely vulgar, it has left a very elusive trail in the historical record. An untraced sighting in a 1613 play (in the form queme ) is the oldest claimed instance that I’ve encountered. And a double occurrence in a ballad dated to circa 1707 is the first confirmed instance of quim itself. But slang dictionaries report on quim starting in 1811, without adding significantly to the database of actual occurrences of the term. In Google Books search results, this state of affairs continues until roughly 1888, when the anonymously authored [ My Secret Life ] which uses the term frequently appears.
As for where the term came from, the Whip Club member in 1811 suggested the Spanish word quemar , to burn. Eric Partridge, Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English , fifth edition (1961), nominates the Celtic cwm (“a cleft, a valley”). And there is of course the archaic English and Scottish English adjective quim (or queme or queem ), which can mean pleasing, satisfying, gratifying, or the like.
Ultimately we’re dealing with a slang word that may go back more than 400 years and appears to have been widely known near the beginning of eighteenth century—and certainly by the end of it—and yet has left few traces in the written record between 1600 and 1811. Under the circumstances, “origin unknown” seems a suitable (though regrettable) etymological conclusion to reach.
So my question is are there rude/naughty words that you like but don’t hear anymore?
A couple of links to some historical belters:-
