Dictionary Definition
bawdy adj : humorously vulgar; "bawdy songs";
"off-color jokes"; "ribald language" [syn: off-color,
ribald] n : lewd or
obscene talk or writing; "it was smoking-room bawdry"; "they
published a collection of Elizabethan bawdy" [syn: bawdry] [also: bawdiest, bawdier]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Adjective
Extensive Definition
Ribaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges
from bordering on indelicacy to vulgar. It is a third, and somewhat
neglected, genre of sexual entertainment. It is often confused with
pornography and
erotica. It is also
referred to as "bawdiness", "gaminess" or "bawdry".
Unlike either pornography or erotica, which play
sexual
intercourse or sexual
fetishes "straight", ribaldry aims at humor. Sexual situations and
titillation are presented in ribald material more for the purpose
of poking fun at the foibles and weaknesses that manifest
themselves in human
sexuality, rather than to present sexual stimulation either
excitingly or artistically. Also, ribaldry may use sex as a
metaphor to illustrate
some non-sexual concern, in which case ribaldry may verge on the
territory of satire.
Like any humour, ribaldry may be read as
conventional or subversive. Ribaldry
typically depends on a shared background of sexual conventions and
values, and its comedy
generally depends on seeing those conventions broken. Depending on
their attitude, viewers can perceive this either as poking fun on
the poor souls who suffer the consequences of breaking the taboos, or as flouting the taboos
themselves.
The ritual taboo-breaking that is a usual
counterpart of ribaldry underlies its controversial nature and
explains why ribaldry is frequently a subject of censorship. Ribaldry, whose
usual aim is not "merely" to be sexually stimulating, often does
address larger concerns than mere sexual appetite. However, being
presented in the form of comedy, these larger concerns seem to
censors to be un-serious. Moreover, the presence of satirical
content in ribaldry tends to arouse the wrath of authorities, who
may overlook more explicit sexual entertainments in order to
prosecute comedians whom they perceive as attacking conventions
they wish to maintain.
Examples
An example of an ongoing (approx. 400 years) tension between censorship and ribaldry can be seen in the continuing story of the De Brevitate Vitae, a ribald song which, in many European and UK-influenced universities, is both a student beer-drinking song and an anthem sung by official university choirs at public graduation ceremonies. The private and public versions of the song contain vastly different words.Ribaldry has likely been around for the whole
history of the human race, and is present to some degree in every
culture. Works like Aristophanes'
Lysistrata, the
Menaechmi
by Plautus,
the Cena
Trimalchionis by Petronius, and
the Metamorphoses
or The Golden Ass of Apuleius are
ribald classics from ancient Europe. Geoffrey
Chaucer's "The
Miller's Tale" from his Canterbury
Tales is a classic medieval example. François
Rabelais showed himself to be a master of ribaldry (technically
called grotesque
body) in his Gargantua.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence
Sterne and The Lady's Dressing Room by Jonathan
Swift. Mark Twain's
long-suppressed 1601
certainly falls in this category.
More recent works like Candy,
Barbarella,
L'Infermiera,
the comedic works of Russ Meyer,
and Little
Annie Fanny are probably better classified as ribaldry than as
either pornography or erotica.
Bawdy song
A Bawdy song is a humorous song which emphasis the physical song of sexual relationships. Historically these songs tend to be confined to groups of young males, either as students or in an environment where alcohol of flowing freely. An early collection was "Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy" published between 1698 and 1720. Sailor's songs tend to quite frank about the exploitative nature of the relationship between men and women. There are many examples of folk songs in which a man encounters a woman in the countryside. This is followed by a short conversation, and then intercourse. Neither side demonstrates any shame or regret. If the woman becomes pregnant, the man goes back to sea. Rugby songs are often bawdy. Examples of bawdy folk songs are: "Seventeen Come Sunday" and "The Ballad of Eskimo Nell". In 1892 "The Scottish Students Song Book" (ed by John Stuart Blackie) was published, containing 200 songs. Many were saucy. In modern times Hash House Harriers have taken on the role of tradition-bearers for this kind of song.See also
bawdy in German: Zote
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Fescennine, Rabelaisian, animal, aphrodisiomaniacal,
blue, broad, carnal, clitoromaniacal,
coarse, concupiscent, crude, dirty, earthy, erotic, eroticomaniacal,
erotomaniacal,
filthy, fleshly, foul, foul-mouthed, foul-spoken,
foul-tongued, fulsome,
goatish, gross, gynecomaniacal, horny, hot, hysteromaniacal,
impure, indecent, indecorous, indelicate, ithyphallic, lascivious, lecherous, lewd, libidinous, lickerish, lubricious, lubricous, lurid, lustful, lusty, nasty, nymphomaniacal, obscene, offensive, pornographic, priapic, prurient, randy, raunchy, ribald, risque, rude, salacious, satyric, scatological, scurrile, scurrilous, sensual, sexual, sexy, smoking-room, smutty, suggestive, sultry, taboo, unchaste, unclean, uninhibited, unprintable, unrepeatable, unrestrained, vile, vulgar