[Ads-l] Heard on The Steve Wilkos Show, tonight

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Talk...with a paper asshole" is the form I'm familiar with, attested at
least as early as 1945.

JL

On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 8:41 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> As someone might have said, when I was in the Army,
>
> "This comment must have been written by _a man with a rubber asshole_."
>
> Both "rabbit-assed mind" and "a man with a rubber asshole" are equally
> opaque to me WRT their semantics.
>
> A mere 5 results, this being the oldest, though I first heard the
> expression in 1959:
>
> mudcat.org: Curious Expressions Three
> mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26181
> The Mudcat Cafe
> Oct 5, 2000 - 82 posts - ‎37 authors
> "Jesus, Dan. You act like a man with a rubber asshole." Anybody ever heard
> that before? [Yes.] Exactly how does a man with a rubber asshole act? [You
> got me there. When I was accused of *talking* like such a man, I asked, WTF
> does that mean? and got no response.]
>
> On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 12:38 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > A book that was probably published in 1953 contains the phrase
> > "rabbit-ass mind".
> >
> > Year: 1953
> > Title: The Waiters
> > Author: William Fisher
> > Publisher: The World Publishing Company, Cleveland, Ohio
> > Quote Page GB 162
> > Database: Google Books Snippet
> > (Data may be inaccurate; 1953 is visible in snippet showing copyright
> > notice; 1953 is also shown in WorldCat entry)
> >
> > [Begin extracted text]
> > Asher, who had to keep his eye on the car ahead, patted her thigh with
> one
> > hand.
> > "Pay 'em no mind, babes," he said. "Pay 'em no rabbit-ass mind."
> > Asher nosed the car along for several blocks in the creeping stream of
> > automobiles.
> > [End text]
> >
> > Wilson displayed a snippet with "rabbit-assed mind" in the
> > (apparently) 1967 book 'Sippi'. The book also contains "rabbit-ass
> > mind".
> >
> > Year: 1967
> > Title: 'Sippi'
> > Author: John Oliver Killens
> > Publisher: Trident Press, New York
> > Quote Page 71
> > Database: Google Books Snippet
> > (Data may be inaccurate; 1967 is visible in snippet showing
> > publication date; 1967 is also shown in WorldCat entry)
> >
> > [Begin extracted text; not shown in snippet]
> > Swear to my Jesus, she won't pay me no rabbit-ass mind. She ain't
> > gitting up offa nothing for nobody, but all you got to do is to pop
> > your finger."
> > [End text]
> >
> > Below is another instance that was probably published in 1968.
> >
> > Year: 1968
> > Title: The Hippies
> > Author: Burton H. Wolfe
> > Publisher: A Signet Book: New American Library
> > Quote Page 168
> > Database: Google Books Snippet
> > (Data may be inaccurate; 1968 is visible in copyright notice snippet;
> > 1968 is also shown in WorldCat entry)
> >
> > [Begin extracted text]
> > I remember this one boy I met, Joe, eighteen years old He was using
> > and selling crystal One day he said to me: "Man, I'm out of my rabbit
> > ass mind." I asked him what that meant. He said: "I've just turned on
> > to some good geese [another term for heroin]."
> > [End text]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 3:25 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Spoken by a 25-ish, black male guest:
> > >
> > > "You out your _rabbit-assed mind_!
> > >
> > > Google: About 516 results; _rabbit-assed_ alone: About 937 results
> > >
> > >
> > > I last - and first - heard this turn of phrase in 1957. It was used by
> > only
> > > a single person, an older ex-GI who was a frat-brother of mine. I
> assumed
> > > that it was GI slang. However, until tonight, I'd never heard anyone
> else
> > > use it, whether in the Army or anywhere else
> > >
> > >
> > > GoogleB: 26 results; _rabbit-assed_ alone: 35 results
> > >
> > > 'Sippi - Page 175
> > > https://books.google.com/books?id=HKxiAAAAMAAJ
> > > John Oliver Killens - 1967 - ‎Snippet view
> > > They liked him very much, even if the girls on the campus paid him no
> > > _rabbit-assed mind_.
> > >
> > > This is the oldest cite, but with a twist in the semantics.
> > >
> > > By coincidence, Killens was also an (even older) ex-GI who was a
> > > frat-brother of mine.
> > >
> > > --
> > > -Wilson
> > > -----
> > > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> > > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > > -Mark Twain
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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