Slang meaning of 'wood'

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Frederick Williams - 11 Jan 2009 13:15 GMT

I think 'wood' for 'erection' is an Americanism. Is it a recent one?
Specifically, would it have been known in Britain in the fifties?

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Egbert White - 11 Jan 2009 18:33 GMT

>I think 'wood' for 'erection' is an Americanism. Is it a recent one?
>Specifically, would it have been known in Britain in the fifties?

I haven't seen or heard 'wood' for an erection, but I have encountered
'woody.' I don't see 'woody' in that sense in a couple of American
dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary has

| DRAFT ADDITIONS SEPTEMBER 2006
| woody, n.
| * slang. An erection of the penis.

The first attestation (from rec.autos, a Usenet newsgroup) is dated
1990.

A woody was also a wood-paneled station wagon. I don't know if they
still make such a thing. A man who owned an old one told me it was
infested with termites.

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Miss Elaine Eos - 15 Jan 2009 01:39 GMT

> On Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:15:49 +0000, Frederick Williams
> <frederick.williams2@tesco.net> wrote:
> >I think 'wood' for 'erection' is an Americanism. Is it a recent one?
> >Specifically, would it have been known in Britain in the fifties?

> I haven't seen or heard 'wood' for an erection, but I have encountered
> 'woody.' I don't see 'woody' in that sense in a couple of American
> dictionaries, but the Oxford English Dictionary has

FWIW, "wood" is also common American slang. "I've got a woody", "that
gives me a woody", "I'm starting to get some wood", "she's giving me
wood", "when Obama talks, my brother gets some serious wood", etc...

It's sort of a slangism on top of slang to do that to any slang term,
though -- it's not specific to wood.

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Frederick Williams - 15 Jan 2009 12:21 GMT

> > On Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:15:49 +0000, Frederick Williams
> > <frederick.williams2@tesco.net> wrote:
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> gives me a woody", "I'm starting to get some wood", "she's giving me
> wood", "when Obama talks, my brother gets some serious wood", etc...

Do you know when it dates from?

> It's sort of a slangism on top of slang to do that to any slang term,
> though -- it's not specific to wood.

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But you see, I can believe a thing without understanding it.
It's all a matter of training.
--Lord Peter Wimsey in Dorothy L Sayers' _Have His Carcase_

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009

Slang meaning of 'wood'