HEDGE WHORE. An itinerant harlot, who bilks the bagnios and bawdy-houses, by disposing of her favours on the wayside, under a hedge; a low beggarly prostitute.
A selection from Francis Grose’s “Dictionary Of The Vulgar Tongue” (1785)
@TheVulgarTongue@histodons It's fascinating that they described this pure subsistence labor as "bilking" the capitalist enclosers of the means of production. This definition is written purely from the ruling class POV.
@AdrianRiskin@histodons
You've got to assume a little tongue in cheek here, but yes, good point. These open-source prostitutes are depriving Big Harlotry of their rightful cut.
@TheVulgarTongue@AdrianRiskin@histodons the lyrics of the 1980s German Schlager hit "Skandal im Sperrbezirk" have a similar meaning (the scandal isn't that Rosie is a sexworker, but she is operating in a restricted zone and depriving the other "corporate" prostitutes of a few Deutschmark)