Double Yikes

Posted by Brian from Shawnee on July 26, 2004

In Reply to: Double Yikes posted by Bookworm on July 26, 2004

: : : : : Anyone ever hear of "frost your nanny" - as "to spank" ?

: : : : I haven't heard of this one. If it is to mean "to spank", maybe a more appropriate phrase would be "frost your fanny".

: : : "Fanny" in the UK means female genitalia, not bottom as it does in the US.

: : Oh, my

: I had no idea. Thanks for the clearing up that one. I never gave it much thought, but now that I know the British definition...how do you explain a British author by the name of Fanny Burney?
: Also, how did fanny come to have 2 very different meanings in American and British English?

Who knows if Fanny Burney was teased as a girl? But Fanny must be a nickname for something, therefore she had the choice of using her given name if "Fanny" was too embarassing. There are lots of American guys named Dick (for Richard), and I assume their are English guys named Willy (for William), so having that type of nickname can't be so bad.