History HaveAGayOldTime / Literature

** The story is about the weasels trying to find humans to repair the sea walls before the land of Welkin floods. The sea walls are persistently referred to as "dykes". Perfectly correct, but not used with that particular meaning very much these days ...

** [[''Literature/BookOfExodus'' "''And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see mine back parts.''"]]: God isn't mooning Moses, despite how that verse may sound; God is telling Moses, "I am going to be travelling along this particular route, and seeing my face will kill you, so hide in this cave, I'll place my hand over the entrance as I pass by, and then I'll remove it and you can see me from behind."

* ''Literature/{{Stray}}'':
** In the 1987 book ''Literature/{{Stray}}'', Pufftail is called a moggy but his tuxedo brother isn't. By current standards, they're ''both'' moggies. At the time, "moggy" was mainly used for non-purebred tabbies. Since then, it's changed definitions so that it's used for all mixed-breed cats (similar to "mutt" and "mongrel" for dogs).

-->"The two eldest pussies graduated naturally to Miss Marple as a kindred elderly pussy." (''Literature/{{Nemesis}}'')

** In the third book, Marge Dursley - while insulting Harry and his parents - says "You see it all the time with dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup--" before being interrupted in mid-word.

** ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth'' has this doozy of a paragraph, which seems both to suggest that Bilbo is gay ''and'' to create some UnfortunateImplications concerning Gandalf's motivations:

** As it were.

** During the epilogue, the narrative mentions "the well-worn and horny [hands] of gaffers and gammers." Thankfully, context makes clear that it's not about [[OldPeopleAreNonsexual elderly hobbits]] masturbating.

** During the epilogue, the narrative mentions "the well-worn and horny [hands] of gaffers and gammers." Thankfully, context makes clear that it's not about [[OldPeopleAreNonsexual elderly hobbits]] going on ADateWithRosiePalms.

-->Of Water -- and of me --* This Creator/EmilyDickinson's poem, which has balls in it. Ms. Dickinson was referring to ''eye''balls. Who would know?
-->A Dying Tiger -- moaned for Drink --
-->I hunted all the Sand --
-->I caught the Dripping of a Rock
-->And bore it in my Hand --
-->His Mighty Balls -- in death were thick --
-->But searching -- I could see
-->A Vision on the Retina

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson's Guide to Life]]'' has a chapter about animals, with one description reading "A titmouse is not a mouse, nor is it a tit. It is a bird." Since the book had earlier made no fewer than two jokes about [[GagBoobs giant brassieres]] and no fewer than three jokes about [[HehHehYouSaidX the planet Uranus]], it wouldn't be surprising if this innuendo was intentional. Still, it's still a bit shocking to see in a book that is aimed at preteen readers and whose humor is relatively innocent.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Double Star'' has the protagonist, actor Lorenzo Smythe, giving a speech in character as double for a famous politician, tells gow this has tired him out:

* Poor Creator/ArthurMachen can't catch a break:
** He used "queer" as a synonym for "strange" very consistently.
** ''Literature/TheGreatGodPan'' has "gay curtains".
** When ''Literature/TheWhitePeople'' was first written, nobody could predict future readers would look at the title and assume it's a parody on rednecks.
* 1922 Creator/WillaCather novel ''Literature/OneOfOurs'' has the usual uses of "queer" and "gay" in their original meanings, but also has a less common example. A doctor studying a victim of amnesia is called a "[[TheSociopath psychopath]]".
** Cather's ''Death Comes for the Archbishop'' gives us the story of a young man named Ramón who is "passionately fond" of cock-fighting. Throughout the passage, Cather uses "cock" and "rooster" interchangeably, which leads to some rather unfortunate sentences. For instance: "After a somewhat doubtful beginning, Ramón's cock neatly ripped the jugular vein of his opponent." Earlier in the paragraph, this same cock "slit the necks of cocks in all the little towns about."
* Emma Cline's ''Literature/TheGirls'', published in 2016, has three separate examples of the word "queer" used to mean "strange". [[spoiler:The main character is indeed attracted to other girls, but she's still a product of an earlier era.]]
-->'''Evie:''' I had a queer twinge of motherly feeling for her...
* In Creator/AlexanderPope's translation of ''Literature/TheIliad'', Venus describes Paris as looking "Not like a warrior parted from the foe / But some gay dancer in the public show."
* "Intercourse" used to mean "communication between individuals," and still does in many dictionaries. Therefore, in ''Literature/PilgrimsProgress'', when in older editions Christian had "intercourse" with various individuals, including the three women at the gate. Likewise, when the Giant of Despair asks, "Who has come to molest me in my castle?", it may not mean what you think it means.
** Irene Kampen, returning to college in ''Due To Lack Of Interest Tomorrow Has Been Cancelled'', marvels at how calmly her 1970 classmates take all the explicit sex discussions in psychology and literature class, while back in 1943 "The United States, in her intercourse with foreign nations" would have inspired snickers and blushes.
** Meanwhile, the word "conversation" used to mean, among other things, "sexual intercourse or intimacy." The term still survives in the context of "criminal conversation" -- which is not a crime, but a civil action in which a person can sue another person for committing adultery with the first person's spouse. (This is no longer a legally recognized claim in many jurisdictions, but it still exists in a few U.S. states.)
* "Booby" meaning an endearingly silly man. Creator/VirginiaWoolf's ''To The Lighthouse'' has "she did in her own heart infinitely prefer boobies to clever men who wrote dissertations". Which becomes more amusing if one knows that Woolf was bisexual.
* The nursery rhyme [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Little_Pussy I Love Little Pussy]]: ''But pussy and I/Very gently will play (-) For pussy don't like/To be worried and teased.''
* Another once-common nursery rhyme could have modern 12-year-olds rolling on the floor:
--> Ding dong bell, Pussy's in the well
--> Who threw her in? Little Johnny Grin
--> Who pulled her out? Big John Stout!
* In ''Literature/{{Heidi}}'', the servants Sebastian and Johann are convinced there's a ghost, which turns out to be a homesick Heidi sleepwalking. In the translation used in the cheap Grossett unabridged version, Clara's father tells them they're "a pair of boobies", i.e., idiots.
* Creator/EnidBlyton:
** ''Literature/TheFamousFive'', ''Secret Seven'' and similar books and her contemporary imitators would use "queer" to mean "strange" or "weird" a lot, since the central premise is about queer goings-on in the older sense of the word.
** Blyton's ''Faraway Tree'' series features two main characters called Dick and Fanny. They climb up a long hard tree and enter magic worlds.
** Several characters are called Fanny.
** ''Literature/StClares'' series: A sixth-form girl's reaction to finding out the twins don't know how to make a fire or clean boots in the original text first book -- "Goodness gracious, Pam, did you ever see such a pair of boobs?" This was changed in later editions.
** The blurb for the Dragon edition of ''Fifth Formers at St Clare's'' says that for "for Antoinette, the final straw was having to fag for Angela". In this context, it refers to performing menial tasks for an older girl.
* Creator/RobertBurns has a poem called "Cock Up Your Beaver". "Beaver" here refers to a type of hat.
* "The Gay Science" is an outmoded term for the art of poetry. Creator/FriedrichNietzsche actually wrote a poetry compilation with this title. Though that is only a case in English. The German term ''fröhlich'' didn't go the same route as ''gay''.
* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
** In the final pages of ''Literature/TheHobbit'', the narrator remarks that everyone in the Shire remembered Bilbo was an elf-friend and therefore thought him a queer fellow.
** And one of the chapters is called "Queer Lodgings". The lodgings in question are inhabited by a large bearded man who can shapeshift into a ''[[TheBear bear]]''.
** Early in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings,'' one of the Hobbits is throwing some "faggots" into his fireplace. Much later in the novel, "Frodo got a queer feeling as he threw another faggot on the fire."
** Also, when referring to the Black Riders, the characters often just use the adjective black (referring to their [[BadassLongRobe robes]] and horses; they're later shown to be invisible without their robes unless the viewer is wearing a Ring of Power, and when they are, the Riders have "[[UndeathlyPallor white faces]]"). For modern readers, it can be uncomfortable to read lines along the lines of, "I'm afraid we'll be attacked by those black men tonight" and, "I'll never let a black man into this inn."
---> "'Yes, I am white now,' said Gandalf."
** "At last reluctantly Gandalf himself took a hand. Picking up a faggot, he held it aloft for a moment, and then with a word of command, ''naur an edraith ammen!'' he thrust the end of his staff into the midst of it."
** Made even funnier by the fact that Creator/IanMcKellen, who plays Gandalf in the Creator/PeterJackson movies, is gay.
** As the Nine head up the snowy mountain of Caradhras, Aragorn orders that each member of the Fellowship bring with him "a faggot as big as he can carry."
** Also in ''The Hobbit'', one of the songs the Elves sing as Bilbo and the Dwarves enter Rivendell has the line "The faggots are reeking". (That's got yet another one in it, though not a funny one -- "reek" meaning "smoke" rather than "stink".)
** The double meaning of "ass" can cause some trouble, too, with all those [[CrackPairing horribly wrong]] {{slash fic}}s out there.
---> '''Pippin''' (to Merry): My dear ass, your pack is lying by your bed, and you had it on your back when I met you.
** "Bag End is a queer place, and its folks are even queerer".
** It doesn't [[HehHehYouSaidX come up]] much in the book, but how can we forget the swamp ''Wetwang?'' Even funnier is that there is indeed a real life river named [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetwang Wetwang]] and that Tolkien even named it knowing full well what it meant.[[note]]Keep in mind he'd heard plenty of crude boys's school humor at Kings College, and even more crude military humor in the Lancashire Fusilliers.[[/note]]
** This was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in ''Literature/BoredOfTheRings'': "'This is indeed a queer river,' said Bromosel, as the water lapped at his thighs." Another passage in this parody has a narc giving a BattleCry while "brandishing a faggot," who also talks.
** There are actually '''two''' elven languages that Tolkien created as part of his insanely detailed backstory: Sindarin (the more common one), and Quenya (High Elven, rarely appears). The lord of Lothlórien is generally known by the Sindarin form of his name, Celeborn ("silver-tree"), although the Quenya form shows up [[AllThereInTheManual in some of the ancillary materials]]. In Quenya, "silver" is ''telep''- instead of ''celeb''-, and "tree" is ''orno'' instead of just ''orn''. Put them together, and you get... Teleporno.
** Groin the Dwarf, father of Oin and Gloin, is no slouch either.
** There's also an orc called Shagrat. [[FridgeBrilliance (Say it]] [[InterspeciesRomance really slow]].)
** ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth'' has this doozy of a paragraph, which seems both to suggest that Bilbo is gay ''and'' to create some UnfortunateImplications concerning Gandalf's motivations:
--->[Gandalf:] 'Somehow I had been attracted by Bilbo long before, as a child, and a young hobbit: he had not quite come of age when I had last seen him. He had stayed in my mind ever since, with his eagerness and his bright eyes, and his love of tales, and his questions about the wide world outside the Shire. As soon as I entered the Shire I heard news of him. He was getting talked about, it seemed. Both his parents had died early for Shire-folk, at about eighty; and he had never married. He was already growing a bit queer, they said, and went off for days by himself. He could be seen talking to strangers, even Dwarves.'
** An example of a non-slang word that can cause confusion: the various references to "worms" make no sense so long as you don't understand that Tolkien uses the word (in keeping with AntiquatedLinguistics) for dragons and/or snakes. Without that realization, a nickname like "Wormtongue" can only lead to puzzlement.
** In an inversion of this trope, "worm" often pops up in the fantasy genre when discussing creatures of a dragonic or serpentine nature. (Sometimes it's spelled [[XTremeKoolLetterz "wyrm" or "wurm,"]] though.) This is undoubtedly due to the influence of Tolkien and his imitators.
** "Then I'll tell you what to think," said Maggot. "You should never have gone mixing yourself up with Hobbiton folk, Mr. Frodo. Folk are queer up there."
** During the epilogue, the narrative mentions "the well-worn and horny [hands] of gaffers and gammers." Thankfully, context makes clear that it's not about [[OldPeopleAreNonsexual elderly hobbits]] going on ADateWithRosiePalms.
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', the word "rape" is used to describe the theft of the Silmarils. Unintelligent modern readers would be baffled, thinking Tolkien meant "rape" as "violate" rather than "steal", and wonder how the hell Melkor could knock up inanimate objects. The list of these moments goes on.
** The many references to pipe-weed. In-universe, it's supposed to be tobacco; it's just not called that because the term is generally believed to be from Caribbean languages and would therefore be somewhat anachronistic. Back in the day, calling it "weed" wouldn't be out of the ordinary. Since around the 1990s, though, the term "weed" in reference to being something you smoke pretty much exclusively refers to marijuana, as do other terms like "herb" or "leaf." Needless to say, this provokes a lot of jokes in the fanbase about Gandalf and hobbits as a whole [[TheStoner being zonked out of their minds]].
* In Anthony Hope's 1894 novel ''Literature/ThePrisonerOfZenda'', in which an Englishman is obliged to impersonate the King of {{Ruritania}}, the protagonist is at one point called upon to hold up the ruse by "making love" to the King's fiancée. (As noted in a previous section on this page: Up until the latter half of the twentieth century, "making love" to someone could mean having an intimate conversation, such as flirtatious or seductive sweet talk, with no physical contact involved.) In Simon Hawke's 1984 novel ''[[Literature/TimeWars The Zenda Vendetta]]'', in which a [[TimeTravel time-traveller]] is obliged to impersonate the Englishman impersonating the King, the corresponding scene has additional dialogue inserted to forestall any misapprehension on the part of the modern reader.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'':
** Numerous uses of "queer" appear throughout the series, often in reference to the kids' first impressions of the people, places and things they encounter after stumbling into the eponymous fantasy world.
** "everyone skipped back (some of the sailors with ejaculations I will not put in writing)" -- from ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', an example of a writer trying to use a NarrativeProfanityFilter and ending up with a DoubleEntendre.
** ''Literature/TheSilverChair'' gives us a double dose when the character of Jill Pole (a school-aged girl) is being held captive in a giant's castle under the guise of being looked after as a guest, and has to, essentially, kiss up to them to gather clues on how to escape without letting on that she knows.
--->"Gay," said Puddleglum with a deep sigh. "That's what we've got to be. Gay... I'll be gay. Like this" -- and he assumed a [[TheUnsmile ghastly grin]]... Though her tongue was never still, you could hardly say she talked. She made love to everyone -- the grooms, the porters, the housemaids, the ladies-in-waiting, and the elderly giant lords whose hunting days were past. She submitted to being kissed and pawed about by any number of giantesses, many of whom seemed sorry for her and called her "a poor little thing" though none of them explained why. Scrubb and Puddleglum both did their best, but girls do that kind of thing better than boys. Even boys do it better than Marsh-wiggles."
** A non-sexual one occurs towards the end of that book when Caspian's ship is said to be "warped in" upon its return from sea.
* And speaking of Creator/CSLewis...
** One of his essays [[DiscussedTrope references this phenomenon]] with a LongList of old ecclesiastical terms that have changed meaning. For example, "catholic" used to mean "universal" but now only means "papistical", and "dogma" has undergone a considerable lowering of meaning.
** In a note to [[Creator/DorothyLSayers Dorothy L. Sayers]] included in his ''Collected Letters'', Lewis begins: "The only question is can I purr loud and long enough for such a 'good Puss'?" What exactly this was ''supposed'' to mean is anyone's guess, since the letter by Sayers that prompted it is not included in the collection.

* ''Literature/LittleWomen'':
** It contains this doozy:
--->''Mothers are the best lovers in the world, but I don't mind whispering to Marmee that I'd like to try all kinds. It's very curious, but the more I try to satisfy myself with all sorts of natural affections, the more I seem to want.''
** As Alcott remarked in the beginning of part two: "I can only say with Mrs. March, 'What ''can'' you expect when you have four gay girls in the house?'"
* ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'':
** Anne and her friends form a story-writing club. Anne comments that one girl "puts too much love-making in her stories" and that "too much is worse than too little", while another won't write any because she's too embarrassed to read it aloud.
** In ''Anne of the Island'', Anne wonders "if Davy has come out of the closet yet". It would not have occurred to readers to read it in any other way but literally when the book was originally published...
** ''Anne of the Island'' also a chapter entitled "He Just Kept Coming and Coming."
* In ''The Emily Books,'' another series by L. M. Montgomery, [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} kindly but childlike Cousin Jimmy]] comforts the [[ParentalAbandonment recently orphaned Emily]] with a nickname, reminiscent of her slightly pointed ears and her love for cats: "Puss" or "pussy."
* Anyone who's read 18th century literature has snickered at phrases like "he wanted the punishment of a headmaster" or "she wanted her mistress's soft hands". But "want" originally meant "lack" or "need"; the modern meaning of "desire" or "to wish for" didn't arise until the 19th century.

* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'':
** Watson "ejaculates" quite often.
*** The first time this happens in the ''Sherlock Holmes'' canon, Holmes has just finished describing to Watson (who he is only just becoming friendly to) how he managed to deduce a man was a sergeant marine just from how he walked. '"Wonderful!" (Watson) ejaculated.' Yes ladies and gentlemen, [[GeekyTurnOn Holmes is just THAT good]].
*** "The Speckled Band" contains the line, "This ejaculation was drawn forth from my companion by ..."
*** In one of the stories from the same book, Watson is asleep when an "ejaculation" wakes him up.
** Another Literature/SherlockHolmes spit-take moment is found in 'The Speckled Band': Holmes apologises to Watson for 'knocking him up'. At the time, this meant to cause somebody to wake up (by knocking on their bedroom door), and did not have the modern meaning of 'to render pregnant'. ''Juuuuuust'' in case the Holmes/Watson relationship needed any more HoYay... or [[MisterSeahorse Mpreg...]] It's worth another spit-take when Holmes goes on to explain that Mrs. Hudson has just knocked ''him'' up, after having been knocked up herself.
*** However, it's worth noting that this particular example is not ''exactly'' A Gay Old Time, more a difference between American and British slang. Americans visiting the UK even to this day are sometimes puzzled/alarmed/amused when their hosts offer to knock them up in the morning. The term derives from before the invention of the alarm clock; there were people who could be paid to knock on someone's window at an appointed time to wake them up, e.g. knock them up.
** The use of "toilet," which at the time referred to one's personal grooming, washing, etc. ("...no one can glance at your toilet and attire without seeing that your disturbance dates from the moment of your waking.")
** From 'The Adventure of the Empty House' (granted, Doyle ''probably'' wasn't going for a double meaning here):
---> "Ah, Colonel!" said Holmes, arranging his rumpled collar. "'Journeys end in lovers' meetings,' as the old play says. I don't think I have had the pleasure of seeing you since you favoured me with those attentions as I lay on the ledge above the Reichenbach Fall."
** From 'Shoscombe Old Place', Watson describes Sir Robert Norberton as being:
---> "...so far down Queer Street that he may never find his way back again."
*** In this case, the meaning is neither the traditional one (odd, strange) nor the modern one (homosexual) -- "down Queer Street" was an expression meaning "heavily in debt".
** 'A Case of Identity' has modern readers reaching for the BrainBleach with the phrase "She pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff."
** In ''The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb,'' a patient of Watson's mentions that after the doctor bandaged him up, "I have felt another man." (He meant he felt ''like'' another man.)
** In ''Silver Blaze'', "The two lads who slept in the chaff-cutting loft above the harness-room were quickly aroused."
** Another example from ''Literature/TheValleyOfFear'': "Here Holmes drew a small tract, embellished with a rude engraving of the ancient Manor House, from his waistcoat pocket." By a "rude" engraving was meant a simplified one, in what would now be called a wireframe style; but most modern readers will imagine the picture's most prominent feature to be a tall chimney flanked on both sides by low, round bushes.
*** Also in ''The Valley of Fear'', "shoving the queer" was (apparently real) Chicago slang for "pushing counterfeit money into circulation".
** There are multiple occasions where a character expresses a desire for "shag" -- meaning coarse-cut tobacco, rather than ([[SeparatedByACommonLanguage British slang for]]) sex.
** In "The Red-Headed League," a policeman remarks that he "misses his rubber," referring to a card game he usually would play that night (not a sex rubber, and also not a pencil eraser).
** In ''The Sign of the Four'' as well as several other places, Holmes uses the phrase "horny hands." He means "hands like horn," but modern readers may see it as "hands that are sexually aroused."
* "Ejaculate" for "exclaim" is used completely straight in ''Literature/TheHardyBoys'' and ''Literature/NancyDrew'' series. This may have eventually become intentional, at least for the Hardy Boys books. The most prominent ghostwriter for the series, Leslie [=McFarlane,=] grew to despise writing the books, referring to them as "those damn juveniles" at least once. It's believed he started adding in example of this as a way to inject a little humor into a job he didn't enjoy.
** As it were.
** The very first Hardy Boys book in the very first series was and is also rather educational: it tells us how "passing the queers" at that time was slang for fobbing off counterfeit money (hence the expression still used in some places today, "queer as a three dollar bill").
** Better yet: "shove the queer" was another valid term for the act, if ''[[Literature/SherlockHolmes The Valley of Fear]]'' is a guide.

* A particularly unfortunate example from Creator/HGWells ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'': "His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in dressing-gown and shawl; her husband followed ejaculating."
** Also, at one point the narrator says "I grew very weary and irritable with the curate's perpetual ejaculations."
* Often occurs in the Literature/{{Greyfriars}} books, as in "'Hello, hello, hello,' ejaculated Bob Cherry cheerfully." A less common example that might have modern readers looking up etymology is when the school's lone American student proclaims himself and other boys to be 'cute' [[note]]as in shrewd and perceptive[[/note]].

* It also was used in ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz''. Disturbingly, it's usually non-human characters who say it.
* Not only do the characters in Stanley G. Weinbaum's science fiction classic "Literature/AMartianOdyssey" ejaculate frequently, one of them is named ''[[BilingualBonus Putz]]''. Weinbaum most likely did this [[DoubleEntendre intentionally]].
* In the original (Creator/BramStoker) ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'', "As he did so he started back, and I could hear his ejaculation, “Mein Gott!” as it was smothered in his throat".
** Elsewhere in the same book, "Van Helsing rushed into the room, ejaculating furiously".
** When the letters between Mina Murray and Lucy Westenra contain such titillating turns of phrase as ''"I am longing to be with you"'', ''"We have told all our secrets since we were children; we have slept together..."'', and ''"I wish I were with you, dear, sitting by the fire undressing, as we used to sit"'', it's very easy for modern readers to [[LesYay get the wrong idea about the nature of their relationship]]. They're [[HeterosexualLifePartners just good friends]]. Honest. Specifically it's a devoted PseudoRomanticFriendship, quite normal for those days. There were Romantic Two-Guy Friendships too and even church services to solemnize these unions.
** As discussed in the ''Moby-Dick'' section above, some candles were once made of spermaceti, a wax found in the head cavities of sperm whales, thusly these candles were known as sperm candles and the wax known as sperm. But modern readers familiar only with sperm's more common definition may double-take when reading passages from older works mentioning such candles, like this line from ''Dracula'': "Holding the candle so that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal..."
** Yet another unintentionally funny usage of "queer" comes when Jonathan writes of having [[HomoeroticDream queer dreams]].
* ''Literature/ThePrinceAndThePauper'' is full of "ejaculations" and "orgies".
* In the 1930s Creator/DrSeuss illustrated ''The Pocket Book of Boners'', a humorous collection of mistakes found in textbooks. As [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/the-creepiest-childrens-b_n_513489.html#s75154 the ''Huffington Post'' put it]], "If someone tells you they have a 'pocket book of boners,' you should probably turn and walk in the other direction. No wait, run."
* This Creator/EmilyDickinson's poem, which has balls in it. Ms. Dickinson was referring to ''eye''balls. Who would know?
-->A Dying Tiger -- moaned for Drink --
-->I hunted all the Sand --
-->I caught the Dripping of a Rock
-->And bore it in my Hand --
-->His Mighty Balls -- in death were thick --
-->But searching -- I could see
-->A Vision on the Retina
-->Of Water -- and of me --
* How much this trope turns up in ''Literature/TheBible'' depends on which translation you're using, but some stand-out examples follow:
** The word "thong" used to mean just a strip of leather and the word is used in some translations, when John the Baptist comments that he will not be fit even to untie the thongs of Jesus' sandals.
** The double meaning of "ass". How can anyone ''not'' giggle when reading [[http://bash.org/?178890 a Biblical passage involving a man riding an ass]]?
** A man whose ass started talking to him...
** "And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to [[GroinAttack kick against the pricks]]."
---> -- ''[[Literature/ActsOfTheApostles Acts 26:14]]''
*** Modern versions use the word "goads", both meaning a device to keep cattle from wandering.
** Music/NickCave named an album "Music/KickingAgainstThePricks" in honour of the verse, and it got banned from a lot of stores for the name alone. If they'd listened to it, they'd see it was a fairly innocuous collection of country and gospel covers.
** The use of that word to represent the naughty bits was around back then (Shakespeare used it in such a manner, in fact). The translators of the KJV were more frumpy fuddy-duddies than ol' Bill, one would expect.
** Acts 21:30 -- "The whole city was aroused."
** Averted in [[Literature/BooksOfKings 2 Kings]]: "Hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?" Granted, this line is delivered by a designated bad guy, but it means exactly what it looks like.
** "meek" originally meant "gentle and kind" rather than it's current definition of "wimpy". Thus the verse "The meek shall inherit the Earth" can be paraphrased as [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin "Nice people will be the ones who win out in the end"]]
* Creator/AgathaChristie:
** It was still possible to use 'pussy' as an innocent descriptive term in English literature until fairly late into the twentieth century. It gets bandied about a lot in Literature/MissMarple books -- leading to at least one retroactively hilarious sequence in which a group of police officials appreciatively discuss 'old pussies' in general before one mentions 'his particular pussy', Miss Marple. From the context, the original idea was clearly 'deceptively cozy'.
-->"The two eldest pussies graduated naturally to Miss Marple as a kindred elderly pussy." (''Literature/{{Nemesis}}'')
** ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'' describes a character as "queer" and "not straight."
** Christie had lots of gay young people running around, and many people strike the main characters as queer.
** Her book ''Literature/DeathOnTheNile'' might just be the king of this trope. Not only does a character hope that "this girl might be enough to turn the man straight", but one couple talks about "making whoopie" in a restaurant (from context, it seems to mean "living luxuriously") and one character expresses incredulity that "[[{{Hermaphrodite}} that dumb girl totes a dick?!]]" -- "dick" meaning PrivateDetective, obviously.
** ''Literature/TheMurderOnTheLinks'' makes a valiant attempt at the title, though, when a girl [[spoiler:whom he later marries]] asks Hastings if he is in town with his boss. She phrases it thusly.
--->Are you down with the M.P., then? Doing the gay boy on the beach?
** There is also a novel called ''Dumb Witness'', with "dumb" as in "mute" or "silent".
** Literature/HerculePoirot often ejaculates his words. "Poirot ejaculated:" is sometimes on a separate paragraph from both the speech itself and the preceding paragraph, so it really stands out and makes it unbelievably hard not to laugh out loud.
** ''Literature/MurderInMesopotamia'' has Poirot speculate that a woman might be a "female impersonator", a term he uses several times. In context it's meant to refer to a woman with a false identity and not a DragQueen.
** ''Literature/ThreeActTragedy'': This 1934 book has a usage that ''may'' be intentional, in which case it would be one of the first instances. Or it may not. In any case, Egg says that she doesn't care if her boyfriend Sir Charles has had a lot of past affairs:
-->"I like men to have affairs," said Egg. "It shows they're not queer or anything."

** There are multiple occasions where a character expresses a desire for "shag" -- meaning coarse-cut tobacco, rather than ([[SeparatedByACommonLanguage British slang for]]) sex.'

** Also, when referring to the Black Riders, the characters often just use the adjective black (referring to their [[BadassLongRobe robes]] and horses; they're later shown to be invisible without their robes). For modern readers, it can be uncomfortable to read lines along the lines of, "I'm afraid we'll be attacked by those black men tonight" and, "I'll never let a black man into this inn."

** ''Literature/StClares'' series: A sixth-form girl's reaction to finding out the twins don't know how to make a fire or clean boots in the original text first book - "Goodness gracious, Pam, did you ever see such a pair of boobs?" This was changed in later editions.

** "everyone skipped back (some of the sailors with ejaculations I will not put in writing)" - from ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', an example of a writer trying to use a NarrativeProfanityFilter and ending up with a DoubleEntendre.

*** Elizabeth frequently worries about members of her family, particularly her mother and younger sisters, "exposing themselves" in public. Mentally adding "as idiots" or "to ridicule" to the phrase will give more of an indication of Elizabeth's concerns - whatever the social offenses of the various Bennets aside from Jane and Elizabeth, public nudity isn't among them.

*** This may not have been innocent in Dickens' time either, given that the speaker - Sir Mulberry - spends the ''entire conversation'' sexually harassing Kate. (Some phrasing may belong to this trope, but it's definitely read as sexual harassment in-character, leading to several {{Heroic BSOD}}s.)

** ''Literature/TheMurderOnTheLinks'' makes a valiant attempt at the title, though, when a girl [[spoiler: whom he later marries]] asks Hastings if he is in town with his boss. She phrases it thusly.

* In Creator/RoaldDahl's version of "Literature/{{Cinderella}}" (included in the picture book ''Literature/RevoltingRhymes''), Prince Charming exclaims "Who's this dirty slut? Off with her nut! Off with her nut!" after decapitating the ugly sisters - by "dirty slut" he meant simply that Cinderella was slobbish, not sexually promiscuous. A number of online reviewers condemn the book as unsuitable for children because of this one word, despite apparently being fine with the beheadings occurring immediately beforehand.

* In the ''Literature/{{American Girl|sCollection}}'' mystery "The Crystal Ball", a paragraph mentions "the gay crowds". On one hand, the story takes place in the 1910's, when "gay" did mean "joyful". On the other hand, the story was published in 2012- and today's average tween and young teen reading this book aimed for her demographic will likely be more familiar with a different meaning for the word "gay".

** "...there are cold holes and warm holes. Mine is a warm hole.... My hole is warm and full of light." The narrator is referring to his home, which is more-or-less [[spoiler: a literal hole in the ground]]. (Not an instance of the word changing meaning, per se, but rather of a word that always had multiple meanings being used in a way that it wouldn't be in today's more sexually frank world.)

** Averted in 2 Kings: "Hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with you?" Granted, this line is delivered by a designated bad guy, but it means exactly what it looks like.

* Queer by the time Literature/{{Dracula}} was written meant "strange or odd"; one instance came off as specially unintentionally funny as Jonathan one time wrote of having [[HomoeroticDream queer dreams]].

* Some candles were once made of spermaceti, a wax found in the head cavities of sperm whales, thusly these candles were known as sperm candles and the wax known as sperm. But modern readers familiar only with sperm's more common definition may double-take when reading passages from older works mentioning such candles, like this line from Bram Stoker's ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'': "Holding the candle so that he could read the coffin plates, and so holding it that the sperm dropped in white patches which congealed as they touched the metal..."
** Elsewhere in the same book, "Van Helsing rushed into the room, ejaculating furiously".

* ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', while a recent book, is deliberately written with a somewhat antiquated style and word choice. While it avoids some of the more obvious instances, it tends to use the word "intimacy" where nowadays we would probably say "friendship", introducing [[HoYay Ho and Lesyay]] implications into apparently platonic relationships. It also uses the older meaning of "toilet".

* In ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer'', Huckleberry Finn calls Tom's idea of playing robbers as "gay, mighty gay". For a while in the 90s and 2000s, it sounds like he's insulting Tom for suggesting it, and since then, seems to cast aspersions on the sexuality of robbers.

* ''Death Comes for the Archbishop'' gives us the story of a young man named Ramón who is "passionately fond" of cock-fighting. Throughout the passage, Cather uses "cock" and "rooster" interchangeably, which leads to some rather unfortunate sentences. For instance: "After a somewhat doubtful beginning, Ramón's cock neatly ripped the jugular vein of his opponent." Earlier in the paragraph, this same cock "slit the necks of cocks in all the little towns about."

* In E.M. Forster's Literature/{{Maurice}}, the titular character asks about the trustworthiness of his (male) love interest:

* Lois Austen-Leigh's last detective novel (1938) was entitled ''The Gobblecock Mystery''. One hopes the intended context was poultry.

--> -- ''[[Literature/ActsOfTheApostles Acts 26:14]]''