french letters...

[Basileios Drolias]

On Tue, 3 Oct 1995, Peter Trachtenberg wrote:

> > 
> > I'm not sure, but would guess that the term has some relation to the 
> xenophobic (or maybe just Francophobic) name for syphilis: "the French 
> disease." In all accuracy, it should have been called "the American 
> disease," in keeping with its New World origins, or maybe "the Spanish 
> pox," after its original European vectors. But NOOOO! They had to blame 

I scanned a slang dictionary yesterday... Condoms are sometimes called 
American letters, Spanish letters and Italian letters apart from French  
and English. 


baz.