Cartoon couple kissing
Image courtesy of www.deviantart.com

While we refer to sex as anything from “hooking up” to “hanky panky,” people throughout history have had their own special phrases. By consulting the “1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue,” MentalFloss.com has found several euphemisms for sex that were often said in 19th-century England–even among the conservative and highly polite upper crust.I thought you’d get a giggle out of them…

Top 10 old-fashioned ways to talk about sex:

1. Amorous congress
This is the most polite way to say that a couple is having sex.

2. Bread and butter
One on top of the other.

3. Brush
A brief, meaningless fling.

4. Convivial society
Similar to “amorous congress” and used primarily by upper class society.

5. Face-making
This comes from “making children”–because babies have faces.

6. Green gown
Giving a girl a green gown can only happen in the grass.

7. Pully hawly
A game at pully hawly is a series of affairs.

8. A stitch
Similar to having a brush, “a stitch” is a casual affair.

9. Take a flyer
“Flyers” are shoes, so “take a flyer” is to have sex dressed or without going to bed.

10. Tiff
A quickie.