Comments on: Sex with George Hrab

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:49:04 +0000

Wow, this is great I had the pleasure of introducing George to the word `root’ while at TAM6 back in June, but I struggled somewhat to explain the nuances properly. This really is the definitive explanation of `root’, well done!

By: Magpie

Magpie — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:02:02 +0000

And then there’s the pick up line: “ever stubbed your toe on a tree stump? No? How about a root then.” I grew up in a country town and, like Caitlin, I use ‘root’ for what I do with men. Occasionally I might even describe one as a ‘dud root’.

By: Nash

Nash — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 12:27:58 +0000

Of course there is the joke about what Australian Men and Wombats have in common – They both eat roots and leaves.

By: Fragano Ledgister

Fragano Ledgister — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:40:48 +0000

I was going to mention pigs ‘rooting’, but I see you’ve already done it Karen. When I was a farm boy we used to run wire through their snouts to prevent them from rooting (using a nail to pierce the snout).

By: Flesh-eating Dragon

Flesh-eating Dragon — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 16:05:29 +0000

I took a different view on the etymology when I wrote about it a while ago (as part of a longer blog post on vocabulary). I suggested that it could have originated as an in-joke reference to the writings of May Gibbs, given that the characters in Snugglepot and Cuddlepie use the phrase "Good root!" as an exclamation, along with other invented idioms in a similar tree-themed vein. It's not hard to imagine a pair of teenagers with a soft spot for classic Australian children's books saying "Good root!" to each other after sex.

By: Daniel Loxton

Daniel Loxton — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:44:20 +0000

Karen – Indeed I do: I always assumed the Australian “root” borrowed that idea of “digging” or “unearthing” (something that also occurs in other vulgar sexual terms like “plowing,” “drilling,” or “laying pipe”).

That digging idea always struck me as unpleasant, especially with the image of pigs thrown into it…

By: skelliot

skelliot — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:45:17 +0000

We have regressed…

By: Doctor Atlantis

Doctor Atlantis — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 03:55:43 +0000

Sounds a bit like the American “Bang.” S’like the mythical Eskimo words for snow, no doubt.

By: anaglyph

anaglyph — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:56:43 +0000

>>I also loathe the book’s prescriptive, superior tone, and illogical biases.

Oh dear. Perhaps so, but I’m a punctuation fascist in spite of myself, so I kinda warmed to it.

As for ‘rut’, I’d actually always assumed that’s where ‘root’ came from:

rut: [ruht] Key, noun, verb, rut·ted, rut·ting –noun
1. the periodically recurring sexual excitement of the deer, goat, sheep, etc.

~from dictionary.com

By: skepbitch

skepbitch — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 07:48:52 +0000

Daniel – I wonder if you refer to pigs ‘rooting’ in the sense of ‘digging’, e.g., ‘to root out truffles’?

Richard – I haven’t heard ‘rut’. Is that the correct spelling? I wonder how it’s pronounced. Perhaps a regional form?

Geo – thank you for disseminating such a worthy word!

Anaglyph – I was gonna call this post “Eats, Roots and Leaves” – but I didn’t want to publicise the book. I agree with some aspects of the book, punctuation contains semantic information, but I also loathe the book’s prescriptive, superior tone, and illogical biases.

Caitlin – thanks for telling me this. Very good. But I wonder if your usage would be *exactly* the same.
At any rate, I don’t root. I fuck.