Subject:Bloomers
Entries
Entry 3197
Or you kin take a woman's undahclothes, yo' know whut yo' sit down on, an' yo' cut a plug outa each one, her dress, her princess, her bloomahs an' yo' cut it jes' in a four-cornahed piece, an' yo' fold it up. An' now, jes' as long as dat man weah dat piece in 'is watch pocket, she's got no nature fo' no- body else but 'im.
(I see. A piece out of each of her [3] things?)
Yes, each one of 'er [3] pieces.
(Where she sits?)
Yes, sir.
Entry 3258
[This margin title SEXUAL is placed here merely to call attention to the fact that, because of comparative scarcity, I have had to scatter a number of sexual endurance rites among those of SEXUAL IMPOTENCE.] For to have endurance with a woman during sexual intercourse: If she will hang a pair of her bloomers or teddies, either one, over the head of the bed - over your head, too - your endurance will last indefinitely. [Fredricksburg, Va., by Ediphone, meaning I repeated informant's words into speaking tube.]
Entry 4599
Yuh take de bow out of a man's hat. Yuh take dat little bow out an' de seats of de woman's bloomahs. Dere's two partition in it. Jes' rip one dem li'le partition an' put it 'tween dere an' sew it back up, an' wear dat bow right down In dere right in dat drawahs. Wear 'em. An' den put Hearts Cologne on it, jes' sprinkle it right down in dere.
(What will that do?)
Well, dat Will MAKE HIM JES' FOOLIS' 'BOUT DEM UNTIL DEY GIT READY TUH GIT RID OF "IM.
(They wear that in the bloomers in the front or in the back?)
Right in de seat where de partition, right 'tween dere.
Entry 4676
Well, yuh take dis little bow dat's right in de back of man's hat. Dat's de little bow right dere [demonstrates]. Yuh take dat an' take it an' put it in a bottle of sweet spirits of nitah, an' take an' shake it up good. An' den take it, an' yuh know dese women dey got a pocket or somepin in some of dere bloomahs, yuh know. Take it an' put it in dat pocket an' sew dat pocket up an' weah in dere. An' dey say dey nevah will go wit anothah woman.
Entry 4831
Well, de reason ah know dat, mah wife lef' me one time, at Lunavista [see later] Ga., an' she came down South [to Florida] wit a man. An' a fellah tole me, says - a ole man come along an' he says, "Look lak yuh's a bachelah." [He] stopped dere [at my place] an' got some watah, yuh know, [and] says, "Look lak yuh a bachelah." Ah says, "Well, ah is now, but ah had a wife. She run off wit anothah man a few days ago." He says, "Well, ah'll tell yuh how tuh make her come back." Ah says, "Well, ah'd lak tuh know it." Say, "Ah'd give yuh five or ten dollahs tuh know how tuh bring 'er back." He sayed, "Well, yuh go tuh work - did she lef' any of 'er undahpiece anywheres atall?" Ah tole 'im, "Yes." Ah says, "Got some bloomahs an' some princess an' one thin' anothah heah." He says, "Well, her bloomahs de main thin'." He says, "Yuh go tuh work an git chew holt of some alcohol an' wet [feed] it, dat bloomah, '' he says, "an' put it on nex' tuh yore skin an' wear it one day, " he said, "an' pull it off an' put it to de haid of yore baid, tuh yore haid where yuh sleep yoreself. She'll be back home in 48 hours." An' ah be doggone if she didn't come back. Dat experience wit me. Now ah tried dat mahself.
(Where did this happen in Georgia?)
At Lunavista[?] Ga., 42 miles from Savannah. [I tried Buenavista without success. Unless the village post office of Buena- vista has disappeared, I would say that informant means Ludowici (loo-do-wis-i), county seat of Long County, about 42 miles south of Savannah. If we remember that many lowlanders pronounce the letter "w" as 'v and the final "i" as "a"' (as with Cincinnati), we have something like ludavisa with possibilities. The great- est possibiZity in my experience happened in 1924, when our household cook[white] in Oxford, England, came in to tell my wife the phonogram had not been delivered. Tactfully my wife said, "Show me, " and started for the kitchen. She was shown the familiar earthenwear crock bearing the label pate de foie gras.]
(Well, now how did you wear those bloomers?)
Jis' put it on jis' lak she put it on; yo' know, right nex' tuh yore skin. Yes sir, jis' lak yo' put on yore pair of slips - shorts.
(Oh, you put them on just like she wore them?)
Yes sir, one day. Den wet it in alcohol an' roll it up an' put it underneat' yore haid of de baid an' yo' jis' [where you] sleep. She come back in 48 hours - right back home.
(That did the work?)
Yes sir. [A similar story to this one, though not an example of transvestism, will be found in FACI (1st ed., 9416, p.506, 2nd ed., where?).] Here the deserted man does not wear the bloomers of his departed wife. Instead, he washes them out, writes a wish for her return, folds the wish up and puts it in the bloomers, and hangs them up to dry.]
Entry 7061
Ah heah dat a woman kin take a broom an' lay a broom at de foot of de baid, an' put 'er bloomahs above yore haid an' do anythin' she wanta - yo' won' notice it - an' go on out. Heard of 'em fixin' dat. (At night?) Yes sir, at night.
Entry 7079
If he's runnin' out, tuh take her bloomahs an' dip it in a pan of watah, an' wring it out an' wave it ovah him three times. (Over his head?) Yeah, ovah 'is face an' hang it on de head of de bed. Take a sheet an' spread ovah de bed, most anythin', an' hang de bloomah fur 'nuff ovah 'is head so he can't pull 'em off.
(Is he in the bed all the time she is doing that?)
Yes, he's jis' lyin' dere 'sleep. He jis' didn't wanta git up yo' know. It make him he wouldn't wanta git up.
(That will make him stay asleep?)
Yeah, make him stay asleep. She kin go off where she please an' come back.
Entry 7185
Yo' kin take yore drawahs, yore bloomahs, an' hang 'em ovah de head of de bed, an' yo' take a pint of watah an' yo set de pint of watah down tuh de foot of de bed. Den yo' kin go on out an' go anywhere yo' Wanta, an' come back in an he's still asleep, 'cuz ah've tried it.
Entry 8731
[Three is a numeral we have already met in this section about nomes. Here I have gathered together a few examples temporarily overlooked or not easily placed elsewhere. The rite preceding this one, THIMBLEFULS 3, could have been included here, but I preferred to index it under thimble:] If she want 'er husban' tuh stay home, she goes tuh work an' get her a strip of papah, a little strip of papah. She puts her name at de top an' she puts her husband name right underneat' of hers." She gits her a thin piece of cloth, yo' know, lak in de linin', lak in de linin' of a coat. Stick it right in dere. An' she'll sew it down into de seat of her bloomers. Den she'll git de same thing, her name at de top an' his'n to de bottom, an' she'll wear it in her shoe fo' three days. An' if he don't leave off runnin', ah don't know what [she could do].
(She makes both those and puts one in her bloomers and one in her shoe?)
Yes.
Entry 10230
(To get your wife back?)
Yes sir.
(How do you do that?)
You just go out there to them front steps and you kin take a piece of her toe of her stocking or the heel, and she [not] going to pass over that. She - all you gotta do is to git it down in de ground under them steps, de toe of her stocking or de heel, or a piece out of her bloomers, out of de seat of them. Put it down in there under them steps and bury it, and if a man comes there, he won't come up them steps. He come there and - and call her and they'll stand there and talk. And if she want anything at de store, she send him. She ain't going to go out of there. Vicksburg, Miss.,
(756), 1037:1.]
Entry 10757
A woman kin take a pair [of her] bloomers an' put it over the had [of] yo' bad unknowin'st tuh yo' an' make yo' do anything she wanted tuh make yo' do. An' yo' inhale dat thing, yo' can't help from comin' back home.