A misunderstanding

[claymore]

The Sister of Dear Heart, the one with the pert bottom, has a house in France.
The sisters are both keen gardeners and periodically, she of the pert bottom will bring seedlings from France for Dear Heart to grow on.
We recently received some lettuce plants which were duly planted in Dear Heart's greenhouse and we have been enjoying them for a while now.

I was asked at lunchtime if I would like some 'French Lettuce' - I obviously did not hear the question clearly as my response was along the lines of 'Why would we need those blasted things?'

This offended Dear Heart as she believed the lettuce to be delicious, as indeed do I.

In order that I can expedite a resolution, does anyone know the origin of the term French Letters?

[Nick]

.
~ French: préservatif m , capote anglaise f (the English cap)
~ Interlingua: preservativo, condom
~ Portuguese: preservativo m , camisa-de-vênus f , camisinha f


It possibly stems from the fact that they were issued to British soldiers on leave in France during World War One.

Or - it may come from the french . . . 'condom' in French is a capote Anglaise = English overcoat.

Another source traces the word derivation to a Colonel Condum of Britain's Royal Guards. This authority notes that the colonel devised the 'French letter' early in the mid-17th century to protect his troops from the French.

More prosaically, the use of the term 'letter' may refer to the fact that a condom is a bit like an envelope in that it envelopes ... The first contaceptive devices of this type were developed in France. They were made of animal organs - possibly intestine and were later imported into Britain They became known there by their present name.

Of course, ther Frecnch have always been seen by the Brits as sexually obsessed: French kiss (tongue in mouth), French (verb, to perform fellatio), French love or French way or French head job (fellatio), Frencher (one who enjoys fellatio), Frenchery (brothel), French flip or French self-love [for details, see somewhere else], French postcards (pornographic pictures), French deck (deck of cards decorated with erotica), French pox or French crown or French marbles or French disease or the Frenchman (syphilis), French article (French prostitute), French cap or frencher/frenchie (a condom), French tickler (condom with extras on it), Frenchified (having venereal disease).

Condom is also a town in south-east France (a French connection?) and was, in days of yore, a stout fortress, reputed impregnable (so a good tradename/nickname for a contraceptive?). The town of Condom is on the river Baise, and one of the meanings of the verb 'baiser' in French is 'to engage in sexual intercourse', and the word can, in many cases, be well translated into English by the verb 'to flip'.

Of course, there is the conundrum of whether a landlord in France is a French letter...

Hope this helps.

[aquaplane]

, and one of the meanings of the verb 'baiser' in French is 'to engage in sexual intercourse',

And there was I thinking "baiser" just meant snogging.

I believe the French call a convertible car a capote too, so I don't know where that fits in with the impregnable fortress. My French was poor when I did it for O level and it's not improved with lack of use.

[sahona]

, and one of the meanings of the verb 'baiser' in French is 'to engage in sexual intercourse',

And there was I thinking "baiser" just meant snogging.

.

I was taught (O-level again) that it was "to lie with" as in voulez-vous se-baisser avec moi?
se baisser sounds like 'lower or get down'
Can't remember the two flags which mean 'permission to lie alongside' but I presume they were for use by mute or non french-speaking sailors.