More old GI slang

[Wilson Gray]

Good eye, Doug. I hadn't thought of that possibility. I should have,
though. "Happy as a
pig in shit" is one of my own favorite expressions.

-Wilson

On 4/2/06, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: More old GI slang
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >"You live in shit!"
> >
> >Back in the late '50's and the early '60's, this phrase, with
> >sentential stress on "shit," was used by white GI's to
> >congratulate a person who'd unexpectedly had something
> >especially good happen to him, such as being assigned
> >to T[emporary]D[ut]Y, which both lowered one's work load and
> >simultaneously raised one's pay.
> >
> >IAC, I've never been able to figure out the semantic reanalysis
> >necessary to use something really bad to describle something
> >really good. Of course, I realize that "bad" can mean "good."
>
> Maybe this is a version of "happy as a pig in shit"/"like pigs in shit"/etc.?
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>
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