Thank you ma'am; Kiss me (bump or dip in road)

[Garson O'Toole]

Jonathan Lighter wrote
> The HDAS files have several exx. in addition to that from 1890.  The
> documentation of "wham-bam, thank you ma'am" as a sexual allusion, however,
> does not begin until the WWII era.
>
> My understanding (from God knows where) is that the early custom (ca1890)
> was that when a wagon hit a bump in the road, any male involved could demand
> a kiss from any handy female. Hence the "Thank you ma'am!"
>
> But it culd be BS.

This message continues a discussion of "wham-bam-thank-you ma'am!" by
focusing on the phrases "thank you ma'am" and 'kiss me." First, thanks
to Wilson Gray, George Thompson, Dan Goncharoff, Jonathan Lighter,
Robin Hamilton, and Victor Steinbok for comments on the thread called
"Phrase: the old, slam-bang, thank-you-ma'ams (automobile tires circa
1925 probably)"

The OED (2nd edition) has an entry for "thank-you-ma'am" that includes
an explanation of why the phrase is used for a bump or dip in the
road. The first cite is from Longfellow in 1849:

thank-you-ma'am, n.
Forms:  Also thank'ee-marm.
A hollow or ridge in a road, which causes persons passing over it in a
vehicle to nod the head involuntarily, as if in acknowledgement of a
favour; spec. a ridge or hollow on a hill road serving to throw off
descending rain-water.

1849    H. W. Longfellow Kavanagh xi,   We went like the wind over the
hollows in the snow;—the driver called them ‘thank-you-ma'ams’,
because they made everybody bow.

This is the earliest cite known (to me). Here is a cite in 1851 that
discussed a new buggy design able to reduce the jolt when passing over
a bump or dip:

Cite: 1851 August 18, Daily Republican (Springfield Republican), Page
2, Column 2, Springfield, Massachusetts. (GenealogyBank)

Nowhere, however, is the improvement so strikingly manifest, as in
passing over what are known as "thank-you-ma'ams," Here, the divided
body allows both sets of wheels to adopt them selves to the ground on
which they run, and even under rapid motion the common twitch is
entirely obviated, and nothing felt but a gentle swell.


In 1872 another explanation was offered for the term "thank-you-ma'am":

Cite: 1872, The Profile House by Percy Curtiss, Series: The White
Mountain Series, Page 147, Andrew F. Graves, Boston, Massachusetts.
(Google Books full view)

"We are coming to the 'thank ye ma'ams,' said Mr. Marden, as the road
began to grow rough in places.

"What are those?" inquired "Ned."

"They are the ruts where the wheels sink so as to pitch inside
passengers on to each other. When a lady finds a gentleman's hat in
her lap, she picks it up and gives it back to him, and he says, 'Thank
ye, Ma'am.' This happens pretty often, and so we call all these ruts
by that name."

http://books.google.com/books?id=Fz8XAAAAYAAJ&q=ruts#v=snippet&

In 1877 a Dictionary of Americanisms listed "Thank-ye-Ma'ams" and
"Kiss-me" stating that both terms are used for  hollows and
depressions in roadways. The Dictionary also gave an explanation for
"Thank-ye-Ma'ams" that is comparable with the one offered by
Longfellow and the OED.

Cite: 1877, Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and
Phrases edited by John Russell Bartlett, Fourth edition, Page 701
[Thank-ye-Ma'ams], Page 336 [Kiss-me], Little Brown, and Company,
Boston, Massachusetts. (Google Books full view)

Thank-ye-Ma'ams. Hollows or depressions in a road. with low heaps of
earth or snow dug or thrown from the hollows. Sometimes they are
caused by depressions made to carry off water. In winter, when there
is deep snow, these hollows are made by sleighs. The plunging and
rising of passing vehicles causes the rider to bend his body with
every rise and fall; hence, the term of thank-ye-ma'ams. See Cahot.

http://books.google.com/books?id=j-U_AAAAYAAJ&q=hollows#v=snippet&

Kiss-me. Used as is "Thank-you-Ma'am" (which see) for a ridge or
hollow place across a roadway; a jolting obstruction to vehicles, New
England.

http://books.google.com/books?id=j-U_AAAAYAAJ&q=%22kiss+me%22#v=snippet&

There is an entry for "Thank ye ma'ams" describing a custom involving
kissing in "A New Dictionary of Americanisms" circa 1902:

Cite: 1902?, A New Dictionary of Americanisms: Being a Glossary of
Words Supposed to be Peculiar to the United States and the Dominion of
Canada by Sylva Clapin, Page 420, L. Weiss & Co., New York. [The date
1902 has a question mark after it in the bibliographic data supplied
by HathiTrust.]

Thank ye ma'ams. Hollows or depressions in a road which cause vehicles
to bump up and down. A young man driving his sweetheart in a sleigh,
is then permitted to take a kiss at each of these.

http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015004283951
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015004283951?urlappend=%3Bseq=420

There are relevant notes in American Speech in 1944 and 1945 that
discuss "Thank-You-Ma'am", "Kiss-me" and "Kiss-me-quick."

'Thank-You-Ma'am' by L. P., American Speech, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Feb.,
1944), pp. 70-71, Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/486543

Kiss-Me-Quick by Ernest S. Clifton, American Speech, Vol. 20, No. 2
(Apr., 1945), pp. 155-156, Published by: Duke University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/487418

I think that the connection of the phrase "thank-you-ma'am" with the
sensual-sexual act of kissing and the 1925 use of the phrase "the old,
slam-bang, thank-you-ma'ams" in an advertising campaign to refer to a
rough automobile ride may have facilitated a re-interpretation of the
latter phrase to refer to intercourse by the 1940s.

Victor's 1906 citation with "'thank you, ma'am.' Bump--bump--you're
over it and on to the next" also allows for a sexual interpretation in
addition to the bump in the road interpretation.

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