Yet Another Gypsy Question

[BNN]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 1:28pm

Ok, so I have seen the show twice and loved it but there is one line in the show that I just don't understand. During Gypsy's striptease (I believe its the Garden of Eden one) she says something along the lines of no longer studying French because she's studying (pause) Greek! Only one person seemed to understand it much to Laura Benanti's delight but I am still in the dark about this reference.

Also! I noticed in the dressing room, Nancy Opel's Mazeppa costume is up on a shelf.

[philcrosby]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 1:35pm

The joke about "greek" come from the word "ecdysiast," which Gypsy talks about. It was H.L. Mencken's invented proper word for "strip-tease artist," 1940, from the Greek ekdysis "a stripping or casting off" (used scientifically with ref. to serpents shedding skin or crustacea molting), from ekdyein "to put off" (contrasted with endyo "to put on"), from ex- + dyo "sink, plunge, enter."

(Thank you, dictionary.com for putting it better than I could.)

[antiandrewx]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 2:03pm

I always thought "greek" meant anal sex... which would explain why Laura grabs her butt when she says the line.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 2:34pm

Yes, the joke is about oral sex ("French") vs. anal sex ("Greek").

In less permissive days, personal ads used those code words to indicate the ad-placer's interests.

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 2:36pm

I had no idea she was talking about Oral and Anal sex. Wow, I feel dumb.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 2:39pm

Well, better late than never.

Now you can answer those old personal ads without worry.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 2:52pm

I always thought "Greek" was referring to something sexual, but I didn't know it was anal sex either.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 2:54pm

I gotta teach you kids everything?!

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:00pm

it's nice to actually learn something here, though.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:02pm

I know what you mean.

Watching stuff as a kid, before the advent of the internet, I'd hear stuff and know there was a joke or reference there, but often there was no way to find out what it was.

Very frustrating!

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:04pm

Oh, that Reginald!

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:07pm

My last post sounded sarcastic, but I'm being sincere.

I remember on an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, Yosemite Sam was screaming "Open the door! Open the door!" And he turns to the camera and says "Notice I didn't say 'Richard'?"

And for years, I was like "WTF was that about?" I knew it was SOMETHING . . .

Only with the advent of google (well, maybe Yahoo) did I find out that it was a reference to a popular song and an old vaudeville routine.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:09pm

ha, I'm sure that have been so many references (most probably in old Looney Tunes cartoons) that have just gone completely over my head.

and it really is nice to have people who know things and politely explain them. well done, Reginald.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:14pm

Well, if you can't politely explain old code words for anal and oral, you don't deserve to wear a top hat.

As my mother used to say.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:18pm

that reminds me of how I think some people look like their avatars. so you wear a top hat and Pal Joey is actually Gene Kelly.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:21pm

And BorstalBoy is Christopher Meloni. Sigh.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:23pm

Certainly!

And you, Gives, are a young, unjaded Patti LuPone.

I seriously told Phyllis once that I pictured her in that red spangly dress she used to wear in her . . . uh, his avatar.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:27pm

Well, it's not like I've never worn a red spangly dress before.

So I get the Greek and French thing, but was the joke in the Landsbury revival ("I've been too busy learning English,") then just supposed to be her playing dumb, or does English have a dirty connotation, too?

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:28pm

well, you know how kinky those Brits are.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 3:28pm

Good lord, Phyllis! I have no idea.

After French and Greek, I go home.

[marknyc]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 5:46pm

It's so sweet that people here don't know what "French" and "Greek" refer to! In the recording I have of Merman's closing night in "Gypsy," the line "Tough titties!" gets a long, long laugh - probably because many people in the audience had never heard that word said on Broadway before.

Updated On: 10/3/08 at 05:46 PM

[Weez]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 6:06pm

If you fellas don't already know what we get up to between the sheets over here in merry olde Englande, then you're too young and I simply will not corrupt your comparatively pure minds any further.

I'm afraid I don't look much like my avatar. I'm not quite that skinny, and my family doesn't like it if I don't wash the blood off every time I pop out of a seal carcass.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 8:47pm

So, when you say "top hat," do you mean a condom???

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 10:08pm

Of course!

But don't ask what I mean when I say "cigarette holder."

[BNN]

Posted: 10/3/08 at 10:09pm

...

Thanks for answering my question!

As well as several others I didn't know could be answered.