The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #123873   Message #2734546
Posted By: Steve Gardham
29-Sep-09 - 06:11 PM
Thread Name: 'naughty'; 'bawdy' - what else?
Subject: RE: 'naughty'; 'bawdy' - what else?
Currently being mentioned on other threads and about to be published. Peter Buchan's mss at Harvard titled 'Secret Songs of Silence' calls them 'High-kilted'. This is in early 19thc NE Scotland.

I'm guessing here but I'd say 'high-kilted' refers to what might become visible if one wore one's kilt too high.

In publishing/collecting/scholarly circles the most common term used is 'bawdy'. Others include...Barrack-room ballads...Locker-room...merry muses....dirty ditties....vulgar verse....poetica erotica...common muse. In Britain the most basic ones would generally be known as 'rugby songs' as they were perceived by most to have been the domain of rugby players sung in the bath and the bar after the match. In reality they were mainly the province of schoolboys and the armed forces.