Etching - "Etchings" Euphemism

"Etchings" Euphemism

The phrase "Want to come up and see my etchings?" is a romantic euphemism in which a person entices someone to come back to their place with an offer to look at something artistic - with ulterior motives. The phrase is a corruption of some phrases in a novel by Horatio Alger, Jr. called "The Erie Train Boy" which was first published in 1891. Alger was an immensely popular author in the 19th century, especially with young people and his books were widely quoted. In CHAPTER XXII of the book a woman writes to her boyfriend "I have a new collection of etchings that I want to show you. Won't you name an evening when you will call, as I want to be certain to be at home when you really do come." The boyfriend then writes back "I shall no doubt find pleasure in examining the etchings which you hold out as an inducement to call." This was referenced in a 1929 James Thurber cartoon where a man tells a woman in a building lobby: "You wait here and I'll bring the etchings down". Also in Dashiell Hammett's 1934 novel The Thin Man, where the narrator answers his wife asking him about a lady he had wandered off with, "She just wanted to show me some French etchings." The phrase was given new popularity in 1937: in a well publicized case, violinist David Rubinoff was accused of inviting a young woman to his hotel room to view some French etchings, but instead seducing her.