A slang term so commonly used in the American language, and even found in a Standard English dictionary under a slang subtitle, is the verb form of the word moon. The noun form of the word moon is the common word used in the English language, meaning earth's enormous satellite that circles the earth while at the same time the earth circles the sun. Although this definition is what people usually refer to when they use the word moon, the slang definition has very little similarities in meaning. The slang term moon is used as a verb because to moon is to carry out an action. The dictionary definition of this term is: to expose one's nude posterior to a person or an object usually as a prank. A passing car or a person just passing bye is usually the best victim for this sort of prank. Although today this term is widelyunderstood, it took centuries to develop, little by little evolving into what it means today.

         The most important thing is the meaning of a slang term in my own head, because a slang term doesn't have a meaning unless someone gives one to it. Growing up, many children including myself pulled the prank several times, usually as a source of boredom relief. We used the term regularly without variation or confused thoughts to the meaning of the word. The word meant one thing to us and it always meant the same thing, to pull down your pants and show your butt to a passing car. When the car screeched we yanked up those pants and bolted for safety. We would moon a car, we would moon each other, but one thing we would definitely not do is moon mom or dad, because if we did we would have big welts on our moons. The word moon was used when I was young and when my parents were young and is still used today. This is a slang that has survived time unlike most slang terms and probably will last forever.

         Moon as a noun and a word in the English dictionary has it's deepest roots from the indogermanic time period of language. According to the Oxford English dictionary moon comes from the root of the word month. The moon changes with the months as the ancient people observed and recorded. The eclipses that occurred on certain dates every year, along with the half moons and the full moons all were changes with comparison to the months. Also as the moon changed, some people, especially women, associated those changes with their feeling that occurred on certain times of the month. From these changes other words were derived, like mood and menstrual period. People began associating the moon with feelings and mood changes. Shakespeare did this in one of his writings when he referred to women as having the temperament of the moon. Meaning that the women are having mood swings and sudden changes during the month. Along with all of the relationships already mentioned, the moon's round shape and brightness gave birth to the relationship between the moon in the sky and a person's behind. The slang usage was first documented in the early English culture when the English described a person's posterior as a moon. Throughout the time period poets would write about ballet dancers that showed their moons as they danced. Many quotes from the Oxford English dictionary describe people speaking very eloquently about a person's posterior using the term moon. Such as in 1878 a British newspaper writer wrote: " The exceptionally beautiful porcelain doll is made of a very soft paste of fine grain and often exhibits a women placing her hand upon her moon as her exhausted stare reveals a hard day of housekeeping." They used the term without any perverse connotations like there are today. Soon, as the noun developed into a verb the perverse connotation followed. The men of England began shouting for the women to moon them while at dancing shows or other places with dancing women. The term became an action of people to show their posterior usually to reveal a woman's under garment. But although mooning still required clothing of some type it was beginning to get skimpier until it was finally used in the early nineteen hundreds for kids showing their bare posterior to people, signaling to them this is what I think of you! The signal no longer carries so crude a significance. Primarily it is used as a prank that is overwhelmingly funny and gives a rush to those who pull it.

        Other slang terms relate to this term, because for part of the root word they project the actual meaning but for the majority of the root word they have no relevance. A term such as cool as it is used to describe a calm person can mean the person's body is not hot; also it can mean a person's face is not hot like fire but cool like water. The definition of cool means a person is not angry but patient and calm.  Other than what is explained here, a person's body temperature has not actually risen it is a figure of speech, or slang. The word moon can be related to a person very distantly by saying the sun is the front or most important satellite to the earth as the moon is the back or least important satellite to the earth. Although the front and back do not describe the actual position of the sun or the moon, they portray an idea of importance. Both the sun and the moon apply to the body of a human, the front and the face being like the sun and the butt being the back like the moon. Other than these relationships, a person's posterior has nothing to do with the humungous secondary planet in the sky; it is a figure of speech, or slang. Slang can change a word to be used as anything they want it to, with little or no relationship at all. Just as cool can mean a really popular person, really like and looked up to, which has no direct connections from the actual definition of a cool temperature. Also using moon to show your butt has no direct connections to the large object in the sky. Mostly the words come from very distant relationships and evolve little by little throughout time. Who knows if moon might mean something completely different in twenty years along with it's meaning now. Most slang terms however leave the English language just as fast as they come. But this is not true for the verb moon; it has been around for generations and has potential for being inductedinto standard American English.

         If moon is a slang term then what did they call mooning before it was called mooning? Well first you must ask yourself was there such a thing as mooning 1000 years ago. Did they moon the king? Probably not, but in actuality the action of mooning has been around longer than the word. God only knows the words they used for it but it wasn't just kids getting into the act. Adults or anyone did the action. The action was equivalent to today's curse words primarily the "F word." Another phrase that could possibly relate to today's usage of the verb is the phrase "kiss my a**." Which is not equivalent but can be used to mean the same thing. Usually mooning is not meant to be mean or nasty, but just for a laugh, but as you can see it can mean anything you want it to, it depends upon you. The reason I believe this word has potential is because it is a term widely understood throughout the country of the United States and countries in Europe primarily England. As I discussed earlier this term has been used for generations and with an educational estimation of past usage I believe it will remain to mean the same thing it meant to me as a child. Unless young kids all of a sudden become proper and begin thinking mischief is wrong and shouldn't be tampered with I think I made the right estimation.

Luke Castillo