Thanks, Alex, for pointing out that article. I still think that those words which have changed their meanings (though most of the examples in the article were already ambiguous when they were written) shouldn't be changed, not even in children's books. There might be some distracting amusement involved at the beginning, but an awareness of the changing nature of language can't be learned too soon.
And this led to coffee on keyboard:
Quote:
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“Cock” as slang for the male member has been current since 1610. Yet in the chapter headed Aunt Jane’s Treat in Richmal Crompton’s 1924 novel, William the Fourth, one of William’s respectable maiden aunts accompanies him to a fair, where she rides on a merry-go-round, mounting – as the author puts it – “a giant cock” … “It seemed to give her a joy that all her blameless life had so far failed to produce,” it says.
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The author of the article can't be serious when he says Crompton wasn't aware of what he was writing. He
must have been making a (rather misogynistic and nasty) joke at the expense of some real maiden aunt's expense, just that, being "a blameless ex-classics teacher" writing a book, he couldn't very well use the same language as the lads down at the pub, could he? If Crompton really didn't realize what he was writing, Sigmund Freud would have had a field day with him...
ETA: I really like "Facsimilist"...