Re: "write him" was Re: More questions

JC = John Cowan
CC = Constentin Cornomorus

JC> The non-obscene senses of "cock" died out in
JC> American English in the 1870s,

CC> Except for actual cock (the chicken)

That's a "rooster" except in set phrases like "cock of the walk".

CC> stopcock, shuttlecock,

As John mentioned, these are technical vocabulary; but more to the point,
I think, is the fact that they're compounds.  It is the lone word "cock"
which has shed its non-obscene meanings.

CC> cock your rifle/shotgun/weapon-of-choice

Ah, but that's a verb, which is different.  When "cock" is a noun, the obscene
meaning is definitely the first thing to come to mind, which is certainly
not true of all double-entendre words.

JC> a period to which we also owe the euphemisms
JC> "white meat" and "dark meat"  for the (cooked)
JC> breast and leg of fowl, the> words "breast" and "leg"
JC> being at that time taboo.

Really?  How strange.  I never thought of the terms "white meat"
and "dark meat" as at all euphemistic, just descriptive.
And in the case of "dark meat", broader, "leg" in that context refers only
to the lower leg, while "dark meat" also includes the "thigh",
a separate piece.

-Mark