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I've been watching a TV show called Two and a Half Men and there's a part where Allan says to Charlie:

Why what'd you do?

and Charlie replies

I did Rose.

I've researched this and found that the word "did" here means "have sex", so basically he meant:

I had sex with Rose

But my doubt is why was the word "did" used to represent the "sex act"? What is the origin of that usage?

Link to the video: YouTube (the timestamp is 0:11)

Peter Mortensen
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curiousUser
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    It would probably be a more interesting question to ask what verbs can't be used to refer to the sex act, because it seems pretty much any can. Some obviously relate to penetration or other aspects of the sex act (hit, nail, boink, lay, sleep with...), but a lot are very common verbs with numerous meanings (do, have, take, etc). It's probable that many of these uses arise multiple times, quite independently, through processes of metaphor and/or euphemism. – Stuart F Feb 01 '23 at 16:00
  • @StuartF, re, you speculate that "pretty much any" verb can be used to refer to having sex, and adduce as examples generic verbs, and verbs with obvious metaphorical signifiers. I imagine that the list can be lengthened, but I also imagine many verbs describing a specific, not obviously sexual, act would not join it. I was surprisingly-to-me stymied in my search for examples, but probably, e.g., "I read her" would be (strange but) fairly unlikely to be interpreted sexually, unless one's interlocutor were determined to do so. – LSpice Feb 01 '23 at 23:49
  • Re "my doubt is": As in Indian English? – Peter Mortensen Feb 02 '23 at 04:13
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    worth noting that this euphemism is extremely common cross-linguistically – Tristan Feb 02 '23 at 14:37
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    Humans are extremely prolific in creating euphemisms for sex. Consider the biblical sense of "know". In fact, I think with appropriate context and intonation, practically any verb could be used. Even nonsense: "I galorphed your sister last night." – Barmar Feb 02 '23 at 15:51
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    One of the most interesting things about learning (a small amount of Chinese) is learning what idioms and euphemisms are really universal. For example, just as in English, Chinese gan (干) means both "do" and "fuck". Amusingly the same character (with a different pronounciation) also means "dry" as in dried fruit, leading to some horrifically mis-translated signage in grocery stores. – The Photon Feb 02 '23 at 16:36
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    I'm not sure, so not giving an answer, but my thought is that it's a shortening of "I did the deed with her", where "the deed" is a euphemism for the sex act. – RonJohn Feb 02 '23 at 17:16
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    @LSpice Way too easy (apologies in advance, comment only provided for PoC): "I read her from cover to cover last night, and then front to back. I was reading her all night long. She's a great little read." :-D – mcalex Feb 03 '23 at 02:50
  • @mcalex She sounds like a thrilling page-turner. Did you read the preface or did you dive straight into the main story and skipped a few chapters? – Stef Feb 03 '23 at 11:32
  • I read Hans Ruesch's Top of the World when young, and only later understood what "laugh with her" meant (or implied)... – Pablo H Feb 03 '23 at 14:28
  • @RonJohn I'm also not sure but I suspect that's unlikely - tonally, "I did the deed with her" comes across quite differently to "I did her," due to the difference between the sentence's object being the sex act vs the partner. Compare the difference between "We fucked" and "I fucked her." – LizWeir Feb 03 '23 at 14:29
  • @Stef Hopefully you're not one who's so impatient you jump straight to the last chapter. – Barmar Feb 03 '23 at 15:15
  • Well, as we couldn't wait to get reading, I thumbed through a few of the juicier titbits while her dustt-jacket was still on. But she wanted to be read properly, so - as I said - from cover to cover, blurb to aftergl, err afterword. I messed up the order of front to back in the previous comment (oops). So yeah, I read her back-to-front after the first reading. She said I can start at the last page anytime II want. :-D Imma stop now. – mcalex Feb 03 '23 at 15:16
  • @LizWeir I should have also italicized "with", to make it "I did the deed with her" shortening to "I did her." Being a man, I know what the tone of "I did her" is and means, so "I did her" being a contraction of "I did the deed with her" seems eminently reasonable. – RonJohn Feb 03 '23 at 15:25
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    @PabloH I once heard a storyteller telling a tale from Japanese mythology about a man whose wife died; he made a deal with a spirit to revive her. The spirit warned him: for the first day, she will not be fully back to the world of the living. If you... smile at her before the end of the day, she will disappear. If you can resist the urge to smile at her for the whole day, then she will come back for good. There were children in the room, hence the storyteller's hesitation and choice of the word "smile". Spoiler: the man failed to resist the urge to smile at his wife. – Stef Feb 03 '23 at 15:38

2 Answers2

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OED mentions Shakespeare in its first citation.

1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iv. ii. 76 Chiron. Thou hast vndone our mother. Aron. Villaine I haue done thy mother.

It also surmises “probably arising from wordplay on undo v. 8b; cf. also undo v. 8d.”

undo v.
8b. To destroy in respect of means or position; to ruin. (first citation 1390)
8d. To ruin by seducing.

So it appears that undo in Shakespeare’s play had the meaning of “destroy in respect of position; ruin by seducing” and he created a ribald pun.

Laurel
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Andrew Leach
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    Part of me wonders is subsequent uses of the phrase really derive from the early one in this case, or if this is an expression that has been reinvented independently on multiple occasions without references to prior usage. – ohwilleke Feb 02 '23 at 15:39
  • Is there any connection between 'done' and 'die/dead/death' in this context (from the do-ee's PoV)? I have seen variants of 'No more! I am done.' and an Eng Lit. teacher was very keen to have us know what 'Oh, I die!' meant in Brontë's Wuthering Heights. – mcalex Feb 03 '23 at 04:03
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Green’s Dictionary of Slang has a few early usage examples from the 16th century. The sense appears to be an extension of the meaning of “do” in the sense of “attack”:

do verb:

  1. to attack, literal or figurative

(a) (also do with) of a man, to copulate with a woman; occas. vice versa.

c.1534 Bourchier Huon of Burdeux I 155: She is myn owne, therefore I wyll do with her at my pleasure.

c.1566 [UK] Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 72: This goodman [...] lay down by her, and straight would have had to do with her.

1573 [UK] ‘Cambridg Libell’ in May & Bryson Verse Libel 336: Tom Allen rides woynge, / [...] / Some say he hath been Doynge.

Gio
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    Do with [someone] seems slightly different to just do [someone] though. The latter certainly seems cruder! I think Shakespeare may well have been first into print with do [someone]. – Andrew Leach Feb 02 '23 at 10:40
  • @AndrewLeach - maybe, anyway the sense of do in that respect does certainly predates Shakespeare. Moreover, as a sense of “attack” the expression is also crude, as far as I understand. – Gio Feb 02 '23 at 10:43

  • 'occas. vice versa' :-D

     – mcalex Feb 03 '23 at 03:53