Tossing the Salad
Meaning
Tossing the salad is a prison slang expression for analingus, or the oral stimulation of someone else’s anus.
The phrase in this form exists, due to the fact that in prison various flavorings were used to suppress the taste of the rectum.
These flavorings included ketchup, jelly or the most popular, which had given the name to the practice; salad dressing.
via MEME
Origin
The practice started to take off in the penitentiary system of the United States during the 1970’s and 1980’s, as an initiation ritual for newly incarcerated inmates.
“Tossing the salad” was started to be utilized as a phrase for this practice around that time, though it mostly stayed exclusive to prison culture, not truly entering homosexual circles, where the same sexual act was referred to as “rimming” or “rimjob.”
Spread and Usage
In 1996, an HBO documentary, titled Prisoners of the War on Drugs was broadcasted, in which one of the inmates unveiled the meaning and background behind the expression “toss the salad.”
It was due to this, that the expression had gotten popularized.
In the following years, comedian Chris Rock also adopted the phrase into his stock of jokes.
The first article about “tossing the salad” was uploaded to Urban Dictionary in 2002.
External References
- Urban Dictionary – tossing the salad
- Refinery29 – What Is Tossing Someones Salad? Sex Slang Explained