The mention of the word merkin on the Academy Awards last night triggered a fun memory. It’s obvious, at least it is to me, that my friends and I were in the vanguard of the Cool Crowd being as how we knew what a merkin was long before it became a popular term. Here’s how it went down.
My bridge group plus our husbands gathered in the wilds of rural Ontario to enjoy a mid-winter camping getaway. The more observant readers might feel compelled to point out that we must have been out of our minds to contemplate mid-winter camping in Canada. This seldom poses a problem for hardy Canuks like us, especially since our camping trips have long morphed into leisurely weekends of eating and drinking at a country retreat. Continuing to call our escape from the city a “camping trip” makes us feel athletic and adventuresome and buff.
Saturday dawned bright, and crisp, and very cold, so after pigging out over lunch, we all suited up in hats, scarves, gloves, and the like. My friend, Linda, pulled a reddish-brown, curly-looking thing onto her head. From a distance, the hat resembled either a matted rat pelt or, if you squinted, a really, really bad haircut.
“John hates this thing,” she confessed, referring to her husband. “He wants to throw it away, but my daughter knitted it for me and I love it.”
“That hat looks like a merkin,” Bob volunteered.
We all turned and stared at him as if he had sprouted another head. Being a writer, I nodded wisely and pretended to know what a merkin was.
“What’s a merkin?” Donna asked.
“A pubic wig,” Bob answered, injecting a note of authority by adding, “Someone at work told me.”
“Ah. That explains the curls,” I snickered.
Everyone (except Linda who was wearing the garment in question) rolled on the ground trying not to pee while screaming with so much laughter, feral squirrels and chipmunks scurried into hiding. For the next five minutes, the woods rang with merriment.
One by one, we scrambled to our feet and dusted off the snow.
“You must work with some really strange people,” Linda said, patting her hat to make sure it was positioned properly.
Bob grinned. “I’ve always wanted to work the word ‘merkin’ into a conversation.”
After our walk, during which we all speculated about the origin, not to mention strange requirement, for an item called a merkin, we all trooped back to the cottage to eat hot cheese appetizers, crack open a bottle of wine, and check out some Internet definitions for Merkin. Here’s what we found:
Wickipedia: A merkin (first use, according to the OED 1617) is a pubic wig, worn by prostitutes after shaving their genitalia to eliminate lice or to disguise the marks of syphilis.”
Oxford English Dictionary: “A counterfeit hairpiece for women’s privy parts.”
I imagined the following scene:
Setting: A brothel on the outskirts of London, circa 1620.
Anonymous John: I love what you’ve done with your merkin, dearie. It looks so natural, and a perfect match for your underarm hair.
Prostitute (Turns pink with pleasure): Why, thank you for noticing.
Years later, we still share an occasional chuckle about Linda’s choice of headgear. Merkins (among other things) are what great memories are made of.
That such a thing has ever existed, that someone thought to invent, produce, market and profit from it…
I can only imagine how many prostitutes must have been forced to shave it all off. A ripe target market. LOL.
Fascinating article. And hilarious.
🙂
Thanks, Travis. Glad you liked it. The human imagination is a fascinating thing.
A great story. It had me blushing.
Thank you. My work is done.
This is one great story. It even made me blush.
That was a fun story. It’s always great to have memories like this.
Thanks, Donna. This one still makes me smile.
I’m holding my lips shut, face red as a Texas ant bite, and smiling big as I can without drawing attention 🙂
“Continuing to call our escape from the city a ‘camping trip’ makes us feel athletic and adventuresome and buff” – and it had all started innocently enough 🙂
Precious story, love it!
Thank you so much, Felipe. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Oh my. Color me enlightened.
Who knew? It surprised me too.
Hahaha. Fun story and I learnt a new word.
Thanks, Kiru. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Best line of this blog post: “I love what you’ve done with your merkin.” LOL hysterical! I thought I’d heard it all but a fake wig to cover your syphilis scars is a new one! LOL!
Thanks, Elizabeth. It’s good to know there are people out there who appreciate my warped sense of humor.
Haha, very funny story. I noticed when Jerod Leto mentioned the merkin on the Oscars, the room was oddly silent, except the Magic Mike men!
I nearly fell off the sofa when I heard it. Thats when I knew I had to do the blog post. Such a golden opportunity.
I had to look it up myself! 🙂
It’s not one of those everyday words, is it?
I love that you’ve added “merkin” to my vocabulary!
Writers must always be on the lookout for new words. Now the challenge is to weave it into the conversation.
That’s so funny! Learn something new every day… 🙂
And now, you will never be able to un-know.
This is too funny. First time for me to hear the word. It’s good to know 🙂
Thanks, Regina. It’s always good to expand the vocabulary. Now you will never be able to un-know. My work is done.
I had to share this!
Thanks, Hunter. Much appreciated.
Your story made me smile, Maureen!
It happens to me so many times as well, when I see or hear something and that thing triggers a story of a memory in my mind.
That’s how my short detective stories are born!
I think we as authors recognise ourselves among the crowd for that particular feature! Can we call it a gift? 😀
Thanks, Stefania. Romance stories are born that way too. I definitely believe it’s a gift, one I’m grateful for.