Dead Donkey Ears

[Douglas G. Wilson]

At 01:02 PM 10/5/00 +0800, you wrote:
>At 12:30 PM -0400 10/5/00, Gregory {Greg} Downing wrote:
>>At 12:22 PM 10/5/2000 EDT, Barry Popik wrote:
>>>    In the WALL STRET JOURNAL EUROPE, 4 October 2000, pg. 1, col. 1, a
>>> Russian
>>>declares that his creditors deserve "dead donkey ears."  That is, nothing.
>>
>>There's kind of a silly curse that pops up occasionally on bathroom walls in
>>the U.S., to the effect that "x [person, thing] sucks dead donkey dicks." I
>>don't know what the exact logic of the phrase is, beyond the obvious sonic
>>effects and the not exactly subtle attempt to degrade, but perhaps there is
>>some kind of connection with the phrase you cite -- if not a genetic
>>connection then maybe just a conceptual overlap, i.e., the "dead donkey"
>>image as degrading.
>Then there are those donkey years (or donkey's years) that something
>hasn't happened in.  Presumably this measure of time (why it's
>donkey's rather than, say, the more numerous-per-capita tortoise's
>years) was prompted by the implicit pun.   Perhaps we could mix and
>match--"Those creditors will get money from me in dead donkey's
>years".

I don't know whether these connections translate to Russian, nor whether
they need to (was the Russian speaking English?) ...

'Dick' = 'nothing'/'squat'/'zilch' (given, e.g., in Chapman). "They [don't]
deserve dick" = "They deserve nothing."

'Donkey dick' is a conventional expression, presumably because of
alliteration AND because of the donkey's anatomy and reputation for
lasciviousness.

(1) I've heard it in the 1990's, apparently meaning "large penis". [Spears
gives "donkey-rigged" as an old adjective = "having a long penis".]

(2) Chapman gives the meaning "durable erection". [Sometimes the context
might not provide distinction from (1).]

(3) In WW II military slang, it meant "salami" or "large sausage" (Chapman,
Spears, etc.).

I would have no trouble understanding "They [don't] deserve [dead] donkey
dick" in English as "They deserve absolutely nothing." [I do not recall
ever actually hearing this augmented form, but I do find one somewhat
analogous example on the Web ("... could anyone really give two tugs of a
dead donkey's dick what I'm really feeling?").] In this usage the "dead
donkey" part would be a nonsense intensifier, as in the above washroom slogan.

Maybe "ears" (another long donkey part) is a euphemism here.

-- Doug Wilson