[Ads-l] _to have it snaked_ "to be assured of success, to have it made"

[Wilson Gray]

> My first association was to the snaking of clogged toilets, but it’s
probably not that.

Mine, too. Youneverknow. I've heard the phrase used in context tens of
thousands of times and no derivation better than that has ever suggested
itself to me.

Another weird one from the military is the exclamation, "You live in
shit!", with the totally-unexpected meaning, "You are extremely lucky!"
"You have all the luck!" Or, as we might say in the 'hood, "You got luck's
mama!", vaguely reminiscent of Saddam's "mother of all battles."

On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 2:44 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> Is the origin linked to some process like gun cleaning?  My first
> association was to the snaking of clogged toilets, but it’s probably not
> that.
>
> LH
>
> > On Aug 22, 2018, at 1:31 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > Not in Green's
> >
> > Jambeaux - Page 68
> > https://books.google.com/books?id=35B5AAAAMAAJ
> > Laurence Gonzales - 1979 - ‎Snippet view
> > "But we're not ready," Scoop whimpered. "Nothin' to it," Link said. " We
> > _got it snaked_."
> >
> > "Got it snaked" was common in the military from ca. 1960, when I first
> > heard it.. The author is a Vietnam vet.
> >
> > --
> > -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