crumpet

[sarwal]

Why is crumpet a euphanism for a sexy girl?

[Quizmonster]

'Crumpet' was a general term of endearment applied to either sex as long ago as 1900. "I say, old crumpet!" was a typical P G Wodehouse sentence. In the sense you mean, it dates to the 1930s. The earliest recorded example was from a book called 'Gilt Kid' by J Curtis published in 1936. The relevant quote reads: "Fancy staying up as late as this and not having no crumpet."

So, it came about because of a narrowing-down of the breadth of the original meaning and that was probably based on the idea that a crumpet - as in scone type thing - was seen as a 'treat', something to be enjoyed, as it were.

[Octavius]

In the 1930s, the word became British English slang for a woman regarded as an object of sexual desire. No doubt men remembered their schooldays and associated female pulchritude with something tasty. (In the 1960s the British broadcaster Joan Bakewell was infamously described, in a quote attributed to the late Frank Muir, as "the thinking man's crumpet".) It was earlier a slang term for the head, and also served for a while as a term of endearment (as in P G Wodehouse's Eggs, Beans and Crumpets).

Perhaps it was a rhyming variant on strumpet which was c.1327, of uncertain origin. One theory connects it with L. stuprata, fem. pp. of stuprare "have illicit sexual relations with."

But then again QM is always right.... :o)

 

[Octavius]

I imagine in those days of gentry it would have been innappropriate in polite company to say, "cor!  I fancy that strumpet" so maybe it was a gentlemans code " I say old chap, do you purchance have any crumpet in the house"....

[Quizmonster]

I like the idea of a 'strumpet/crumpet' connection, but there doesn't appear to be any evidence for it. TOED doesn't shy away from rhyming slang with sexual overtones...it quite happily explains 'bristols', for example. So, if the Oxford scholars found no rhyme-link, I'm quite happy to stick with the "tasty treat" concept we created by ourselves, Octavius.