SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED INFECTIONS

big casino noun, US, 1948
• Nitti, like Capone, had picked up in his
travels the occupational malady of the
underworld, euphemistically known as the
capital prize, or big casino. — San Francisco
Call-Bulletin 23rd February 1948

blue balls noun, US, 1912
• —Roger Blake, The American Dictionary of
Sexual Terms 1964

canoe inspection noun, US, 1964
a medical inspection of a woman’s genitals for
signs of a sexually transmitted disease
• —Robert A. Wilson, Playboy’s Book of
Forbidden Words 1972

package noun, US, 1950
a sexually transmitted infection, especially
gonorrhea
• —Hyman E. Goldin et al., Dictionary of
American Underworld Lingo 1950

short-arm inspection; small-arm inspection
noun, UK, 1919
an inspection for a sexually transmitted infection
Soldiers or prisoners are lined up, each holding
his penis. At the command ‘Skin it back and
milk it down’, each man ‘milks’ down his penis
from the base to the tip so that the inspecting
doctor can check for pus at the tip of the
urethra.
• There was a crowd in the kitchen, a mob in
the hall / A short-arm inspection by the
shithouse wall. — Dennis Wepman et al.,
The Life 1976

PROSTITUTE’S CUSTOMER

baby noun, US, 1957
• Still and all, she had a small minute of
indecision when he brought the first
hundred-dollar baby to his apartment to
meet her. —John M. Murtagh and Sara
Harris, Cast the First Stone 1957

freak trick noun, US, 1971
a prostitute’s customer who pays for unusual
sex
• —Eugene Landy, The Underground
Dictionary 1971

geek noun, US, 1993
a prostitute’s customer with fetishistic desires
• — Washington Post 7th November 1993

john noun, US, 1906
From the sense as ‘generic man’, probably via
the criminal use as ‘dupe’ or ‘victim’.
• Russell recognised some of the pavement
princesses, whose pitch this normally was
[...] livid at missing their regular johns and
champagne tricks on their way back from
the City. —Greg Williams, Diamond Geezers
1997

lover noun, US, 1971
• A “lover” is a customer who is determined
to arouse the prostitute or to get her to
respond to him. —Charles Winick, The
Lively Commerce 1971

seventy-eight; 78 noun, US, 1971
a prostitute’s customer who is quickly satisfied
From early vinyl records that were played on a
turntable revolving 78 times per minute.
• A customer who worked quickly was called
a “78” and one with a slower response was
a “33.” —Charles Winick, The Lively
Commerce 1971

trick noun, US, 1925
• They had to keep an eye on the cops all the
time, because they weren’t allow to call the
tricks like the girls in Storyville. —Louis
Armstrong, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans
1954

TESTICLES

balls noun, UK, 1325
• I joined the university karate class (not
because I wanted a code of honour but so I
could kick anyone in the balls who attacked
me when I walked home late at night).
— The Guardian 20th January 2004

clangers noun, UK, 1961
• You like real clangers? I’ll show you a pair
that gong like Big Ben! —Joseph
Wambaugh, The Secrets of Harry Bright 1985

ods noun, UK, 1632
• He don’t have cods enough to steal and all
he wants to do is stand around and whip
some gal, you know. —Bruce Jackson,
Outside the Law 1972

knackers noun, UK, 1866
From an earlier sense (castanets).
• I turned again, and – yeeeoooowww! – a
spade handle leapt up at me as I stepped
on the end of it, and gave me a resounding
whack in the crutch, right in the knackers,
de-balling me. — Alvin Purple 1974

nuts noun, US, 1863
• If another one of these chairs hits me in the
nuts, I’m gonna go postal. — Austin Powers
1999