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I have spent more time than I care to admit today (stuck in traffic, the mind wanders...) puzzling over the etymology of the term G-string. V-string I understand. So for those of you equally curious, here you go:
G-string - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The origin of the term "G-string" is obscure. Since the 19th century, the term geestring referred to the string which held the loincloth of Native Americans [1] and later referred to the narrow loincloth itself. William Safire in his Ode on a G-String quoted the usage of the word "G-string" for loincloth by Harper's Magazine 15 years after Beadle's and suggested that the magazine confused the word with the musical term G-string (i.e., the string for the G note). Safire also mentions the opinion of linguist Robert Hendrickson that G (or gee) stands for groin, which was a taboo word at these times.[2]
Edgar Rice Burroughs dressed his created novel-character, Tarzan, in a G-string for the first time in his book The Son of Tarzan (1914) in chapter 26.[3] However, Korak, son of Tarzan, used a G-string before his father Tarzan did in the same book (chapter 20).[4]
G-string - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The origin of the term "G-string" is obscure. Since the 19th century, the term geestring referred to the string which held the loincloth of Native Americans [1] and later referred to the narrow loincloth itself. William Safire in his Ode on a G-String quoted the usage of the word "G-string" for loincloth by Harper's Magazine 15 years after Beadle's and suggested that the magazine confused the word with the musical term G-string (i.e., the string for the G note). Safire also mentions the opinion of linguist Robert Hendrickson that G (or gee) stands for groin, which was a taboo word at these times.[2]
Edgar Rice Burroughs dressed his created novel-character, Tarzan, in a G-string for the first time in his book The Son of Tarzan (1914) in chapter 26.[3] However, Korak, son of Tarzan, used a G-string before his father Tarzan did in the same book (chapter 20).[4]
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