Everything2
Near Matches
Ignore Exact
Full Text
Everything2

wench

"wench" is also a: user

created by Tony Tastey

(person) by teleny (3 hr) (print)   ?   (I like it!) Sat May 05 2001 at 5:28:22

A cross-dressing male mummer in the annual Mummer's Parade in Philadelphia. Wenches are characterized by braided white wigs (the length of the braid varies according to the age of the wench), "golden slippers" -- sneakers spray-painted gold, triple parasols, and small, satin bags used as pocketbooks and stashes for keys and beer. Outrageously unpretty, often with a beer gut and noticable stubble, most wenches are Irish and Swedish family men, with no transvestism implied. Wenches organize themselves into brigades, similar to the crewes of New Orleans; recently, a few women (usually wives, mothers and widows of wench brigade members) have been sighted donning the wig and parasol as well.

The tradition of wenches is drawn from the parade's past as a showcase of minstrelsy. When blackface characters fell out of favor, mummers went from caracaturing black men to doing the same to white women. Kind of makes you wonder what they'll be doing next....


(definition) by Webster 1913 (print) 1 C! Wed Dec 22 1999 at 4:23:03

Wench (?), n. [OE. wenche, for older wenchel a child, originally, weak, tottering; cf. AS. wencle a maid, a daughter, wencel a pupil, orphan, wincel, winclu, children, offspring, wencel weak, wancol unstable, OHG. wanchol; perhaps akin to E. wink. See Wink.]

1.

A young woman; a girl; a maiden.

Shak.

Lord and lady, groom and wench. Chaucer.

That they may send again My most sweet wench, and gifts to boot. Chapman.

He was received by the daughter of the house, a pretty, buxom, blue-eyed little wench. W. Black.

2.

A low, vicious young woman; a drab; a strumpet.

She shall be called his wench or his leman. Chaucer.

It is not a digression to talk of bawds in a discourse upon wenches. Spectator.

3.

A colored woman; a negress.

[U. S.]

 

© Webster 1913.


Wench (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Wenched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Wenching.]

To frequent the company of wenches, or women of ill fame.

 

© Webster 1913.


printable version
chaos

International Wenches Guild Cute waitresses Strumpet 'Tis Pity She's a Whore
Mummer Fuck me like you fucked that horse Vlad Tepes Two Magicians
tavern Wenchless Dead Can Dance girl
minstrel show Crewe All For Me Grog I want to be a pirate when I grow up
The Dragon's Retort I knew before I met you just how we would end Apology of Socrates Dame Darcy
Twiddley-Aye Drab Little Gamers wink
Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.
  Epicenter
Login
Password

password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Cool Staff Picks
Just another sprinkling of indeterminacy
Strip club
Slave housing in the American South
A stitch in time saves nine
The Welsh Triads
The Question of the Patriarchs
models of fictional time travel physics
Parent's Day
Route 66
Flanders and Swann
Apocalyptic Themes in American Film
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Jerry Falwell
Babyklappe
New Writeups
SubSane
Making Love to a 9-Foot Woman(person)
Ouzo
Thoughts(idea)
antigravpussy
I fall silent, listening. The breadcrumbs are talking about us(person)
calgon
Buffalo Bill by the pool(poetry)
gate
Anarchy is Order(idea)
ushdfgakjasgh
Scribeling(thing)
XWiz
Trism(review)
artman2003
Briefcase Full of Souls - Part I(fiction)
Dreamvirus
Alan Ladd(person)
waverider37
Harold Holt(person)
The Debutante
Until death do us part(fiction)
Ysardo
a brother to a sister(personal)
antigravpussy
your warm whispers(personal)
Clarke
Multiculturalism(idea)
aneurin
Earl of Landaff(person)
This affordable entertainment brought to you by The Everything Development Company