Imaginary or not, I love that they invented a verb for it!
I never cease to be made happy by Greek verbs.
(I seem to recall hearing about some lover escaping out the window with a radish up his arse, but I don't know where that was, or if the story may have been apocryphal.)
It's not apocryphal! Or, at least, you didn't make it up. I found the reference in Liddell & Scott; it's from Lucian of Samosata's Περὶ τῆς Περεγρίνου Τελευτῆς (On the Death of Peregrinus). From Chapter 9:
"This model and masterpiece of nature, this canon of Polykleitos, when first he came to manhood, was caught in the act of adultery in Armenia and received many blows for it, finally leaping down from the roof and making his escape with a radish stuffed up his rump."
Just to be evenhanded about it, Lucian tells us that Peregrinus next debauched a boy and bought his parents off so as to avoid facing charges. I'm getting the impression Lucian didn't much like Peregrinus Proteus. Unfortunately, his satire appears to be the most detailed source on Peregrinus' life. Anyway, there's your radish.
no subject
I never cease to be made happy by Greek verbs.
(I seem to recall hearing about some lover escaping out the window with a radish up his arse, but I don't know where that was, or if the story may have been apocryphal.)
It's not apocryphal! Or, at least, you didn't make it up. I found the reference in Liddell & Scott; it's from Lucian of Samosata's Περὶ τῆς Περεγρίνου Τελευτῆς (On the Death of Peregrinus). From Chapter 9:
τὸ γὰρ τῆς φύσεως τοῦτο πλάσμα καὶ δημιούργημα, ὁ τοῦ Πολυκλείτου κανών, ἐπεὶ εἰς ἄνδρας τελεῖν ἤρξατο, ἐν Ἀρμενίᾳ μοιχεύων ἁλοὺς μάλα πολλὰς πληγὰς ἔλαβεν καὶ τέλος κατὰ τοῦ τέγους ἁλόμενος διέφυγε, ῥαφανῖδι τὴν πυγὴν βεβυσμένος.
"This model and masterpiece of nature, this canon of Polykleitos, when first he came to manhood, was caught in the act of adultery in Armenia and received many blows for it, finally leaping down from the roof and making his escape with a radish stuffed up his rump."
Just to be evenhanded about it, Lucian tells us that Peregrinus next debauched a boy and bought his parents off so as to avoid facing charges. I'm getting the impression Lucian didn't much like Peregrinus Proteus. Unfortunately, his satire appears to be the most detailed source on Peregrinus' life. Anyway, there's your radish.