"Blue balls"

[Jonathan Lighter]

My pontification is yeah.

JL

On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 11:13 AM, Benjamin Zimmer <
bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Blue balls"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 8:55 AM, Benjamin
> Zimmer<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> >
> > Any possibility that Roland was using one of the other senses of "blue
> > balls" attested by HDAS -- either 'venereal buboes' or 'gonorrhea'?
>
> And speaking of buboes (if we must), did "blue boar" (Grose 1788) and
> "blue boy" (Farmer & Henley 1890) arise as eggcornic reinterpretations
> of "bubo"?
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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