bone-smuggler

Tue Jan 4 15:38:39 UTC 2011

Now Snooki's published a novel. And CNN's all over the breaking story.

One of the lines they've quoted without elucidation is, "I love my body,
especially the badonk."

The novelist - or a cunningly crafted persona - also refers to slurping
tequila from navels as a fairly routine activity.

JL
On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 3:19 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: bone-smuggler
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 3:10 PM -0500 1/2/11, Dave Wilton wrote:
> >"Hook up" in the context of _Jersey Shore_ isn't exactly innocent. Some of
> >the "hooking up" gets pretty hot and heavy, but stops short of oral or
> >penetrative sex. I noticed the usage on the show precisely because the
> term
> >can be ambiguous, but on the show it is used very consistently and I found
> >that remarkable.
>
> The ambiguity, or underspecification, has been around for awhile, at
> least beyond Jersey's shores.  This exchange (mentioned in an earlier
> thread or two on this topic) was reported by a Yale undergraduate in
> a class of mine in 1992:
>
> A:  Did you hook up?
> B:  Yeah, we hooked up.
> A:  Did you hook UP hook up?
> B:  No, we just hooked up hooked up.
>
> LH
>
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> >Jonathan Lighter
> >Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 2:38 PM
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >Subject: Re: bone-smuggler
> >
> >What makes Mad's use especially enigmatic is that its context is a satire
> of
> >irresponsible Internet gossip sites.
> >
> >My guess is that it merely implies sexual promiscuity. "Transvestite"
> >doesn't seem apt here at all.
> >
> >BTW, HDAS has the innocent sense of "hook up"  from the '80s or early
> '90s,
> >depending on how closely you want to define it. Parents: It isn't always
> >easy to tell just which nuance is intended.
> >
> >JL
> >
> >On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 1:41 PM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> >
> >>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>  -----------------------
> >>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>  Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> >>  Subject:      Re: bone-smuggler
> >>
> >>
>
> >----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >---
> >>
> >>  I just watched the first season. (Having spent my summers working on
> the
> >>  Seaside Heights boardwalk, it was an exercise in nostalgia.) I don't
> >recall
> >>  "bone-smuggler" being used on the show.
> >>
> >>  In the first season (I can't speak to the second). Snooki is portrayed
> as
> >a
> >>  daffy, flirtatious, party-girl who gets very drunk and then hits up on
> a
> >>  lot
> >>  of guys, always unsuccessfully. Perhaps because her chubby cuteness and
> >>  immaturity engender a protective big brother vibe among men in their
> >>  twenties, her liaisons never progress beyond "hooking up," which in the
> >>  context of the show means necking and perhaps some petting. Because she
> >>  never actually has sex during the course of the season, most of the
> >>  definitions in Urban Dictionary don't fit. The "transvestite" sense of
> >>  "bone-smuggler" may be the one intended by _Mad_, although that is
> rather
> >>  cruel and not particularly apt (at least not without seeing the picture
> in
> >>  question; paparazzi photos can be very unflattering).
> >>
> >>  _Jersey Shore_ has quite a few nuggets of slang. As mentioned, "hook
> up"
> >>  has
> >>  a specific and consistent meaning on the show. "Creeping" means being
> on
> >>  the
> >>  prowl for women. My personal favorite, the regionalism "benny," makes
> an
> >>  appearance when a local insults the TV personalities by calling them
> that.
> >>  And of course there is the much discussed "Guido" and "Guidette."
> >>
> >>
> >>  -----Original Message-----
> >>  From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf
> >>  Of
> >>  Jonathan Lighter
> >>  Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 9:24 AM
> >>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>  Subject: bone-smuggler
> >>
> >>  UrbanDictionary has a number of defs. from 2003 for those who wish to
> >>  pursue
> >>  the matter. See also "bone-snuggling."
> >>
> >>  Not being a watcher of _Jersey Shore_, I can't be sure precisely what
> >_Mad_
> >>  magazine has in mind here:
> >>
> >>  2010 _Mad_ (Oct.) 40: Here's a picture we dug up of _Jersey Shore_
> >>  bone-smuggler Snooki.
> >>
> >>  That's my first encounter with the term.  The current editorial
> standards
> >>  of
> >>  _Mad_, BTW, are far raunchier than the elderly may recall. Think
> _National
> >>  Lampoon_ instead.
> >>
> >>  The October _Mad_ cover featured the BP oil leak. The price of the
> issue
> >>  was "$5.99 CRUDE!"
> >  >
> >>  Not "25c CHEAP!" which is how I remember it.
> >>
> >>  JL
> >>
> >>  --
> >>  "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >truth."
> >>
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> >>  ------------------------------------------------------------
> >>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org