A condom by any other name — prophylactic, jimmy hat, raincoat, love glove, Trojan — is still a condom. But aren’t nicknames more fun? Personally, we like “French letters,” a British term, coined around 1856, which is even in the dictionary, making it totally legit. (We don’t actually call them that. We have enough problems getting dates.) But now we might have to start calling them “Nepalese letters” because women in mountain villages over there have started mailing condoms to their husbands who are working overseas. You know, “Please don’t sleep around, honey, but if you’re going to, slip one of these on, you lying, cheating scumbag.”In other raincoat news, Indonesia is launching its first-ever national campaign promoting condom use. It will coincide with World AIDS day on December 1. In celebration, let’s all go to the drugstore, buy a box and send them to our friends.
