Re: School stories

On 4/04/2026 1:16 a.m., Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Fri, 3 Apr 2026 21:29:51 +1100, Peter Moylan <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> 
>> On 03/04/26 21:10, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
>>> The Natural Philosopher <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> On 02/04/2026 20:33, rbowman wrote:
>>
>>>>> Kipling wrote about the hazing of the younger students by the
>>>>> older ones. In 'Surprised by Joy' Lewis strongly hints there was
>>>>> a sexual element.
>>>>
>>>> It was punishable by expulsion if it was found out. 'bestiality'
>>>> (masturbation) was an expulsion event.
>>>
>>> I thought "bestiality" was specifically having sex with animals.
>>
>> That's the current meaning, but it had a broader meaning within living
>> memory.
> 
> I doubt that bestiality ever meant "masturbation".
> 
> In Kipling & Lewis's time the teachers would probably have called it
> "self abuse", the pupils no doubt had their own slang terms.
> Bestiality probably would have led to expulsion, but solitary
> masturbation, probably not.
> 
>>
>> "Buggery" has had a similar shifting meaning. Originally a bugger was a
>> heretic. (Unless you believe the theory that it was a variant of Bulgar,
>>from the supposed habits of Bultarians.) Then it came to mean unnatural
>> intercourse with man or beast, where "unnatural" was open to wide
>> interpretation. By now it has settled down to a more restricted meaning.
> 
> The heresy was probably that of the Bogomils, who were found in
> Bulgaria and spread to other places.

OED agrees: "post-classical Latin Bulgarus Bulgarian (also Bugarus, 
Bugaris, Bugerus), a name given to a sect of heretics thought to have 
come from Bulgaria in the 11th cent. (probably ultimately referring to 
the Bogomils), and afterwards extended to other heretics (to whom 
various deprecated sexual practices were attributed)"