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In the Song "Ten Foot Cock And A Few Hundred Virgins" Tim Minchin uses the phrase "it's a sin to take it up the date, even if it's great, even with your cowboy mate". I'm not a native English speaker - I have lived in the UK for a bit and consider my English to be quite good for a foreigner, but have never heard "date" used this way. Is it used in English in that way, am I mishearing it, is it an Australian thing, or did the singer just make it up to have something that rhymes?

Link to that moment of the song (most likely not safe for work): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXfmjMlPEic#t=85

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  • There's a vague possibility that it's an Aussieism. – Hot Licks Feb 5 '16 at 0:35
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    I would think it's referring to the "boyfriend/girlfriend" meaning of "date", and it "means" certain specific body parts only by way of metonymy. – Marthaª Feb 5 '16 at 0:35
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    Australian chiming in. Yup, date is an infrequently used term for anus. Also ring and freckle. Someone scratching their bottom is often ribbed by being asked 'are you getting married soon?' When they ask why, they're told because it looks like they are picking their ring, or picking the date. No sources just anecdotal, hence the comment instead of an answer. – mcalex Feb 5 '16 at 8:30
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    Australian comedians John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver used the term regularly in their roles as sports/political/life pundits Roy Slaven and HG Nelson. I've always understood it to derive from a perceived visual resemblance. – Jeremy Feb 5 '16 at 13:17
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    @Mari-LouA - consider the texture of the exterior of the fruit in question with that of the body part in question. This is the reason the word is used like that. The quip about the wedding date comes obviously, from picking at something said to resemble the fruit - it's (a wedding) the first thing that would come to mind generally if one was asked if they've picked or chosen a date yet. – enhzflep Feb 5 '16 at 13:49
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Date as a synonym of "anus" is Australian slang. The definitions I've found are a bit vague in terms of what specific anatomical feature it refers to (some say "anus," some say "buttocks"), but other people responding to this post have provided evidence that this vagueness may just be due to some dictionary-writers misunderstanding the meaning. (For example, rogermue found a definition that says it can also mean "vagina," but JEL found an Ozwords link where it says that "Later investigation concluded that the second meaning [vagina] was a furphy [false report]." Mark Cogan says that "This was reasonably well-understood slang (meaning 'anus') when I was at university in Australia in the early 1990s; it never meant any other orifice or the buttocks in general.")

Date: Asshole. Anus. Ex: Did you see that? That guy just flashed his date at us.

("A Rough Guide to Australian Slang" from Aussie on the Road)

Date : arse[hole] ("get off your fat date")

(Australian Slang Dictionary at Koala Net)

Date Bum - bottom, arse. [Eg: get off your date]

("Australian Slang Dictionary" at aussie-slang.com)

Date - buttocks; a date roll is a roll of toilet paper.

("Dictionary of Australian Slang" from Australia Travel Search)

I'm not Australian, so I can't describe this usage from a personal perspective.

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  • Odd one this. A more comprehensive dictionary of Australian slang doesn't touch it. Nor does the OED know anything about it. – WS2 Feb 5 '16 at 1:04
  • Might be worth looking in a dictionary of Hiberno English if anyone has access. – WS2 Feb 5 '16 at 1:10
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    'Date' appears to be "slang of the month" or some such at Ozwords. If you follow the "Continue reading" link, it appears the first recorded instance of the sense was in 1924. – JEL Feb 5 '16 at 8:00
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    You truly learn something new every day. – John Clifford Feb 5 '16 at 11:05
  • This was reasonably well-understood slang (meaning 'anus') when I was at university in Australia in the early 1990s; it never meant any other orifice or the buttocks in general. – Marq Feb 5 '16 at 14:55
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The Australian National Dictionary has an entry for "date" meaning anus and vagina. http://australiannationaldictionary.com.au/index.php

The link does not work well. You have to fill in "date" in the search field.

1919 W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 18 Date, a word signifying contempt.]

1961 M. Calthorpe Dyehouse 214 “In your bloody date! What do you think we are?”

1971 B. Humphries Bazza pulls it Off, “I hear tell the French tarts … don’t say no to robbing the occasional date locker.”

1973 ‘Hogbotel & Ffuckes’ Snatches & Lays 25

The Australian lady emu,
when she wants to find a mate,
Wanders round the desert
with a feather up her date.

1973 R. Edwards Austral. Bawdy Ballads 26 “His doodle broke off and stayed in her date.”

Hence date v. trans., to ‘goose’ (a person).

1972 D. Hewett Bon-Bons & Roses (1976) 52 “Remember when I got that plumber in to unblock the sink? I was up on a chair fixing the new curtains and he comes up behind, and dates me. Large as life. Without a word of a lie. He dates me. Cheeky mug. And what did he say? ‘Thought you might like your plumbing interfered with too, Madam.’ ”

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    That is so interesting I have edited your answer to quote the entire entry. I am amazed that the OED has not picked this up, especially since the Australian National Dictionary is an OUP publication. It includes another expression to goose a person - which is also a new one on me. – WS2 Feb 5 '16 at 8:55
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    Goose v. OED definition 5. slang. To poke, tickle, etc., (a person) in a sensitive part, esp. the genital or anal regions; sometimes, more specifically, = fuck v. 1. – WS2 Feb 5 '16 at 9:02
  • I have contacted an Australian academic who says he has only heard this sense of date used as date hole = vagina. He has not heard it used as buttocks but thinks it may be simply ignorance on the part of someone who "has not twigged". – WS2 Feb 6 '16 at 10:10
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    @WS2 Thanks for taking the trouble of consulting a person in Australia. The word date, AusE slang, seems to be a tricky case for lexicographers. – rogermue Feb 6 '16 at 10:54
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As sumelic pointed out with an answer that should have been chosen instead of mine, it's Australian slang usually meaning "buttocks" but can be used for other body parts in the same region. There's a page about it at http://www.australiatravelsearch.com.au/trc/slang.html

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    I grew up in Australia. This is absolutely "real" slang and not something coined by Minchin. – Marq Feb 5 '16 at 14:57

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