"88," White Power for "Heil Hitler"

[Beverly Flanigan]

First citations are fine, but in the context of the song (which I've
deleted, alas), the connection with sex is clearly implied, combined with
the reference to "rock."  The link between "rock 'n' roll" and sex goes way
back (cites, Barry or Fred?), and "banging" and "gang-banging" are well
known.  So contemporary linkages of "more/bigger bang for the buck" might
well be with sexual activity rather than with military stuff, don't you think?

At 09:41 PM 8/28/2002 -0400, you wrote:
>On Wed, 28 Aug 2002, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>
> > Can you give me one such early cite so I can send it to the people
> > involved?
>
>The earliest I can readily find is:
>
>1953 _N.Y. Times_ 13 Dec. 20  This trend toward what the planners call "a
>bigger bang for a buck" -- the attempt to achieve more fire power at less
>cost -- has economic, military and technical roots.
>
>The Historical Dictionary of American Slang, which probably would have
>picked up a sexual signification of this expression, has a 1968
>military-related usage as its first use.
>
>Fred Shapiro
>
>
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