I caught a programme on BBC iPlayer about the old music-hall tradition (I think it's dropped off iPlayer now, I'm afraid, so I can't link to it). Not only has the tradition itself disappeared, but so have words that were inextricably linked with music hall.
One of the enthusiasts in the programme mentioned the word masher, a typical member of the music-hall audience. She said that mashers were 'toffs' ie well-to-do young men who came mainly to look at the women. The OED's definition of masher corroborates this: "A fashionable young man of the late Victorian or Edwardian era, esp. one fond of the company of women; a dandy". The OED describes the word as originally US slang. By the end of the Victorian era (1901) a masher had become "A womanizer; a man who makes indecent sexual advances towards women, esp. in public places". Judging by the TV programme on the music halls, plenty of such mashers could be found in the audience of the music hall.
There are a few synonyms of masher, or womanizer, in the dictionary: Lothario, philanderer, Romeo, stud, tom-cat, vieux marcher (specifically an elderly one). There are also the related words lady's man (or ladies' man) and poodle-faker. There isn't a word in English for a female equivalent, interestingly. I suppose coquette and flirt are the nearest. Flirt could once (18th and 19th centuries) also apply to men, while the verb 'to coquet' or 'to coquette' (defined as 'to act the lover' in Johnson's dictionary) was also once (18th century) used of both sexes.
My sense is that "masher" was in slang use in the US through the early to mid 20th Century, but by the '50s, it had effectively vanished. While I've heard it used in old films shot in, or about the first half of the Century, I've never heard it in actual "live" use.
Posted by: John | January 19, 2012 at 10:52 PM
Thanks, John. I'm surprised it was around that late.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | January 20, 2012 at 12:24 PM
I've always liked 'poodle-faker', also 'lounge-lizard', though it doesn't have quite the same meaning. Then there's 'coureur de dames', I guess that's one for use "devant les domestiques".
Posted by: Jemmy Hope | January 20, 2012 at 02:13 PM
Good ones, Jemmy.
My own memory goes back to the early Fiftiesa and I can't recall hearing "masher" except in old films, specifically slapstick comedies.
Posted by: John | January 20, 2012 at 02:42 PM
Thanks, Jemmy. I forgot to mention lounge-lizard (I did once post on it here: http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2009/03/lounge-lizard.html#tp ). I'd never heard of coureur de dames, so thanks for that one.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | January 20, 2012 at 04:39 PM
The French, it seems, now shorten 'coureur de dames' to 'coureur'. Here's an interesting piece about the 'non-equivalence' of French descriptive terms for men and women -
blogs.com/sedulias_translations/2008/04/french-nouns-ma.html
Posted by: Jemmy Hope | January 20, 2012 at 08:06 PM
Thanks, Jemmy, but I can't get the URL to work.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | January 22, 2012 at 10:36 PM
Hmm, something missing.
I've since remembered that 'coureur' for womaniser was not in the posting I tried to link to, but was a was used of sleazy old Dominique Strauss-Kahn in an article I read.
Should anyone still wish to read the piece it's copied at -
http://jemmyhope.blogspot.com/search?q=Sedulia
with a link to the original. It makes a serious point in a not too serious fashion.
Posted by: Jemmy Hope | January 23, 2012 at 04:04 PM
A very interesting post, Jemmy. Well worth reading. Don't know if it's just me, but I can't see the link you refer to.
Your post reminds me that there are absolutely hundreds of words in dictionaries - OED and slang dictionaries - which mean 'whore', including nun, kitty, dolly, mackerel, goose, mystery and very many other words. I often give a talk to community groups entitled 'Is English a Man's Language?'. Here's a summary from one group's website: http://www.ewell-probus.org.uk/programme/2011/Language.htm
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | January 23, 2012 at 06:11 PM
Sorry, the link is not in the text but at the end of the post. I checked and it does work.
Posted by: Jemmy Hope | January 24, 2012 at 07:41 PM
Oh yes, sorry Jemmy, my fault - I was looking in the wrong place. Very good and funny piece.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | January 27, 2012 at 11:38 PM
Your comment that you were surprised "masher" was around at mid-century took me aback, because I was sure I remembered the term being used in the movie The Courtship of Eddie's Father. I did a search for it and found a clip of the scene in which it's used. http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/200945/Courtship-of-Eddie-s-Father-The-Movie-Clip-Mashers.html The film was a 1963 release.
Posted by: Mimi | February 25, 2012 at 04:27 AM
Thank you so much for taking the time to look up that clip, Mimi. Very interesting! Thanks for stopping by and reading.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | February 26, 2012 at 10:56 PM
Came across this 19th century newspaper article while researching vagrancy laws
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100297002162083&set=a.576974925463.2175297.224902&type=1&theater
Posted by: Pocho Luna | June 12, 2012 at 07:25 PM
Thank you, Pocho. That's very interesting indeed. Is it from a Chicago newspaper?
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | June 12, 2012 at 08:34 PM