[Ads-l] off topic: nose buttering

Andy Bach afbach at GMAIL.COM
Tue Jul 30 14:43:49 UTC 2019


>> spanked the birthday person
> I'm familiar with that. "And one [extra spank] to grow on!"
"And a pinch to grow an inch!"

On Mon, Jul 29, 2019 at 10:55 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > spanked the birthday person
>
> I'm familiar with that. "And one [extra spank] to grow on!"
>
> On Sat, Jul 27, 2019 at 7:48 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > According to
> > http://mentalfloss.com/article/52335/7-birthday-traditions-around-world <
> > http://mentalfloss.com/article/52335/7-birthday-traditions-around-world>
> > and http://www.atlanticcoastentertainment.com/birthday_traditions.htm <
> > http://www.atlanticcoastentertainment.com/birthday_traditions.htm>,
> > greasing the nose of a person having a birthday is a tradition on the
> > Atlantic side of Canada.
> >
> >
> > http://thewheelanddistaff.blogspot.com/2011/08/getting-your-nose-buttered.html
> > <
> > http://thewheelanddistaff.blogspot.com/2011/08/getting-your-nose-buttered.html>
> > says that Floyd, Patrick and Carrolls counties of Virginia have this
> > tradition, and there are comments saying it happens in Kentucky, Rhode
> > Island and West Virginia, among other locations. There are more locations
> > at
> > http://www.ichblog.ca/2012/09/butter-on-your-nose-slippery-birthday.html <
> > http://www.ichblog.ca/2012/09/butter-on-your-nose-slippery-birthday.html>.
> > Here’s a book (https://tinyurl.com/y6qn9fwa <https://tinyurl.com/y6qn9fwa>)
> > saying it exists in St. Louis, Missouri. Very scattered.
> >
> > As per
> > https://www.plaidforwomen.com/read-post/butter-your-nose-its-tradition/ <
> > https://www.plaidforwomen.com/read-post/butter-your-nose-its-tradition/>,
> > it is said to be for good luck as the grease causes bad luck to slide off
> > your nose.
> >
> > I have ancestors who lived more than 100 years in the Atlantic states of
> > Canada and they didn’t pass that tradition down, but my more recent
> > ancestors from the Virginias did (they also spanked the birthday person and
> > threw them under the bed). We still practice nose-buttering to this day.
> >
> > I can’t find any evidence on Google to tie this to an Old Country. Does
> > anyone have any idea where this custom might come form?
> >
> > Benjamin Barrett (he/him/his)
> > Formerly of Seattle, WA
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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



-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
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