The "Little Jew"

I came across this footnote in a book I am reviewing:

"According to Ann Pellegrini, the slang for clitoris in Vienna in the 1890s was the "little Jew," and female masturbation was commonly referred to as "playing with the Jew." Pellegrini, Performance Anxieties, 29.

Apologies to Bob Balaban (above), a brilliant actor (Seinfeld) but he was the first person to spring to mind as physically embodying said little Jew (not that he looks like mine one bit!).

BB was followed swiftly into my brain by Ron Rifkin but that's probably only because Brothers and Sisters has been playing on a loop at Casa del Plog. Mr P lasts longer in those marathons than I do (TV tantra?) because the combination of Walker melodrama and my crying quickly wears me out. It's one of the shows we really love watching together, though (others include Damages, Life On Mars, The Daily Show, ... Jonathon Ross) as opposed to those we can't watch together (his: 24, Doctor Who, documentaries about gross physical/ deeply depressing things; and mine: Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Monk, Psych, et al).

I so love TV. I was reared by it and I continue to nuzzle on its sweet narrative-driven nectar. mmmmmmMMMMNNNNnnnnnnn TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to play with my little Jew ...

(Kidding!)