Login

Green’s Dictionary of Slang

benny n.³

[? they bend over/bend over (for) under bend v.¹]

1. a male homosexual.

1935		implied in benny house
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 182: I’m actually crying again, like a focking benny or something.
2001		OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 benny n. derog. a homosexual.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 125: I don’t want the goys calling me a benny.

2. attrib. use of sense 1.

1967		F. Harvey Air War – Vietnam 18: Half of them wear a passion flower behind one ear, and this doesn’t include the ‘Benny Boys’ who cater [...] to the homo trade.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 175: I bet that was all benny talk as well, wasn’t it?
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 229: Missing JP? That’s benny talk.

In compounds

benny house (n.) [note US milit. benny, a young male Filipino transvestite]

a brothel that essentially caters for heterosexuals but that will obtain male prostitutes on request.

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 7/1: Benny house, a house of prostitution whose inmates are mostly all French.
1939		D. Maurer ‘Prostitutes and Criminal Argots’ in Lang. Und. (1981) 117/1: benny house. A house that caters to perverts.
1941		G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 4: benny house (n.): Brothel which caters to the heterosexual client but will procure boys or men for homosexual clients. (Prostitute and criminal slang.).
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1986–7		Maledicta IX 146: Old terms, such as Legman’s benny-house (‘a brothel which caters principally to heterosexual clients, but which will procure boys or men for homosexuals on special order’) disappeared in the age of the tubs (bath houses).