Ugandan affairs

Meanings

nounUgandan affairs pl (plural only)

UKeuphemistichumorouspluralplural onlyOften in the form to discuss Ugandan affairs: sexual intercourse, usually an extramarital affair.
'You sure they're not … er … discussing Ugandan affairs?' Rhona asked, citing the old euphemism for illicit sex.
1998, Cathy Kelly, chapter 13, in She’s the One, London: Headline Publishing Group, published 2011, →ISBN
3 more examples
Everyone known about them now; Rosemary has even been mentioned in Private Eye as "discussing Ugandan affairs with a gorgeous young American don."
1984, Alison Lurie, chapter 5, in Foreign Affairs, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published November 1985, →ISBN, page 171
The fact that his [George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe's] "heavy workload" included many discussions of Ugandan affairs just shows how prescient Private Eye was when it adopted the phrase as a euphemism for the sexual indiscretion of politicians at least 15 years later.
2004 January 1, Alan Travis, “Call girls, drugs and Ugandan affairs shook cabinet: Ministers in the Heath government had to quit”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 01 Dec 2016
She [Margaret Thatcher] had been baffled by what Private Eye referred to as "Ugandan affairs" in relation to [Cecil] Parkinson's affair with Sarah Keays,^([sic – meaning Sara Keays]) saying: "I know it's untrue. He's never been to Africa."
2016 January 25, “Lord Parkinson – obituary: Thatcherite star whose career faltered after revelations of an affair with his former secretary”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC
Synonyms: Ugandan discussions, aphrodisia, carnal knowledge, coitus, coition, commerce, commixtion, congress

Synonyms & antonyms

nounOften in the form to discuss Ugandan affairs: sexual intercourse, usually an extramarital affair.

Also see

Origin

Probably a variant of Ugandan discussions (“(UK, euphemistic, informal) sexual intercourse”), from discuss Uganda (“(UK, euphemistic, informal) to have sex”), said to have been coined by the English journalist and poet James Fenton (born 1949), based on a 1973 incident at a party at which the Irish journalist Mary Kenny (born 1944) explained why she was in the arms of a former Ugandan cabinet minister by saying they were “upstairs discussing Uganda”. The incident was reported by the British satirical and current affairs magazine Private Eye on 9 March 1973, which then popularized the expression by using it to refer to other sexual affairs.

Full word history & related roots →