[Ads-l] Duncan Hunter revives "He may be a _____, but he's our _____"

Bonnie Taylor-Blake b.taylorblake at GMAIL.COM
Tue Aug 29 03:54:00 UTC 2017


The San Diego Union-Tribune has reported that Congressman Duncan Hunter
(R-CA) on Friday said of the President, "He’s an asshole, but he’s our
asshole."

The newspaper noted that "Hunter’s salty assessment was recounted by four
people who were present when the congressman spoke at a Riverside County
Young Republicans meeting in a Murrieta sports bar."

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-hunter-trump-20170827-story.html

Hunter's observation brings to mind earlier anecdotes involving Anastasio
Somoza and, separately, FDR. This particular snowclone -- used primarily to
describe a fellow party-member -- is older, however, going back at least to
1868.  Back then, "asshole" was replaced by "rascal," at least in family
newspapers.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2007-August/072976.html

See also Barry Popik's analysis of this one,

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/he_may_be_a_son_of_a_bitch_but_hes_our_son_of_a_bitch

or http://bit.ly/2gkoGFh

-- Bonnie

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



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