In the UK, "crumpet" has been used since 1936 as a slang term for a woman regarded as physically attractive. This slang usage also has vulgar applications, as it is sometimes used to describe female genitalia. Historically "Crumpet" has also been used as a non-sexual term of endearment[citation needed]. Humorist Frank Muir dubbed Joan Bakewell as "the thinking man's crumpet" following her appearances in high-brow television discussion programmes such as BBC2's Late Night Line-Up, and the term has subsequently been used to refer to other women who are intelligent and good looking, particularly if they have a high profile in the broadcast media. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumpet http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bit+of+crumpet In the 1930s, the word became British English slang for a woman regarded as an object of sexual desire. No doubt men remembered their schooldays and associated female pulchritude with something tasty. (In the 1960s the British broadcaster Joan Bakewell was infamously described, in a quote attributed to the late Frank Muir, as “the thinking man’s crumpet”.) It was earlier a slang term for the head, and also served for a while as a term of endearment. http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-cru1.htm A similar word is "tart", though that is not as complimentary as "crumpet". http://www.marts100.com/brit_slang.htm The term “crumpet” has also been used as a slang term for a female object of desire in England since around the 1930’s (it’s Cockney rhyming slang for ’strumpet’) so if you happen upon the word being used seemingly out of context then you know why. For example, if someone tells you they are hoping to pick up some crumpet on a Friday night, chances are they aren’t going shopping! It is a rather old-fashioned term however and usually used in a more tongue-in-cheek way these days although it does offer countless opportunities for innuendo over the breakfast table. http://www.anenglishmaninamerica.co.uk/where-to-buy-english-crumpets-in-america.php