Folklore: High-Mettled P----O

Subject: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 06:18 AM

Came across this parody of 'The High-Mettled Racer' aka 'The Race Horse' in a 1798 songster full of sophisticated bawdry. In the song the race horse (P-----O) is a euphemism for penis. What I can't work out is what the P----O is meant to be. Pinto springs to mind as a type of horse but if that is simply the case why bother to omit letters. The word is obviously a late 18th century slang for penis but was Pinto used in that way? Pintle/pizzle was penis but pintle-0 has too many syllables. We are looking for a 2-syllable word as with 'racer'. Any suggestions please?

Oh, and no puns on P&O please:) Well, you can if you can come up with a clever one.

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: G-Force
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 07:49 AM

Pego?

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 09:16 AM

Undoubtedly. This was a common 18th century term (origin unknown).

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 01:03 PM

Pegasus? (A horse that "flies" could be one that runs fast.)

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 03:14 PM

Thanks for this. I knew the cat would come up trumps.

Another possibility Pego could be just an extension of 'peg' but all possibilities welcome. I'm sure the Oxford 50 volume? dictionary would have its etymology.

Pronunciation? peggo? paygo? peego (watch the pee go:)

The same P----O occurs in a later song in the same book alongside just the simple p---k (presumably 'prick' in this case). All in the same verse we get P---O, P---k, and P----, oh and surprisingly to me anyway c--d--m, surely 'condom'.

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 04:35 PM

My Partridge Dict of Historical Slang has it 'The penis of man or beast' from Grose, c18thc to mid 19thc, Ned Ward, 1709. From Greek for a spring or a fountain, (so not that far out with 'watch the pee go':)

Thanks again for the heads up.

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Apr 22 - 05:22 PM

Steve, Oxford dates it to 1663.

As for the etymology, all they can venture is "penis, with an arbitrary alteration of the second syllable" (in other words, "?") or Greek "p???, spring, fountain" (in other words, "that's the best we can come up with, even if it seems far-fetched").

The word, which seems to have completely disappeared before 1900, was revived by writers of historical fiction seventy or so years later.

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 03:32 PM

Thanks, Jon.
Not far-fetched at all. Do you not produce a fountain when you point Percy at the porcelain? And of course the penis is the spring of life!

I'll get me coat. Too much information:)

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: GUEST, F the Ineffable
Date: 18 Apr 22 - 08:33 PM

Hello folksters -

I never heard the term pinto used in England to describe a multicolored horse. They categorize colored horses as piebald - large, irregular patches of black and white - and skewbald - a combination of white and any other color, typically brown, chestnut or bay.
The song Skewbald or Stewball celebrates a grade horse who won against registered thoroughbreds, as those colors are not accepted in the registry.
Pinto means paint or painted, and probably entered American horse terminology through Mexican vaqueros.
What has this to do with euphemisms for male genitalia? I dunno.
If I ever come in possession of a large purple stallion I shall call him Aubergine.
Hope this helps.

Subject: RE: Folklore: High-Mettled P----O
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 19 Apr 22 - 09:22 AM

Thanks, F. I did have a vague idea that 'pinto' was American, but it's all I could think of at the time as the song is about a racehorse, albeit euphemised. Also 1798 is not too early for it to have come over from America.