Thursday, January 24, 2013

Word of the Day: frottage

What's "the word I'm thinking of"? Today, it's....

frottage (noun) [fraw-tahzh]

1. A visual-arts technique of obtaining an image by rubbing chalk, charcoal, graphite, etc., over a piece of paper covering a flat but 3D surface, such as a leaf
2. Sexual stimulation and satisfaction by rubbing against something, such as another human

"One day he was discovered, in a store, in the act of frottage on a lady. He was very repentant, and asked to be severely punished for his irresistible impulse.... he stated that at the sight of a noticeable posteriora of a lady, he was irresistibly impelled to practice frottage, and that he became confused and knew not what he did. Sent to an asylum."
--Richard Krafft-Ebing, Charles Gilbert Chaddock, Psychopathia Sexualis (1894)

"Posteriora"? Anyway, when I was a kid, I would occasionally create frottage by rubbing coins, leaves, etc., with paper and a pencil. It's hard to imagine, now, having the free, unstructured time to do something like that--just because I felt like it, not because I had to or someone told me to.

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