From John Duley
Jules Older coined the term “boinng” for sexual infatuation, according to
your correspondent Pat Williams
(21 August, p 52).
However, the etymology of “boinng” may predate its attribution to the
Otago University Medical School in New Zealand.
“Boinng” as a state of arousal first appeared in a 1960s Peter Sellers
movie—I am not sure which. Sellers, who was inspecting a nudist colony in
the company of an equally bare female co-star, held a guitar in front of him to
save his modesty. When his naked companion complained “I’m getting
cold—feel my goose bumps”, a “boinng” sprang from the guitar. The sound
thus derived not from a bedspring, as your cartoon suggested, but from a guitar
string.
j.duley@umds.ac.uk
