"Long, Tall Texan"

[Wilson Gray]

On Dec 2, 2004, at 5:23 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Long, Tall Texan"
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> Another worthwhile recollection, Wilson. The printed record begins, as
> is often the case for such phrases, around 1970.
>
> JL

Thank you! Here's a bit more info. It was in 1961 that I first heard
the phrase. It was used by white G.I.'s. Black G.l.'s used the phrase:
"That must be your asshole talking, because your mouth knows better!"
Another was, "Close your mouth before flies get in!" I.e. "you're
talking shit."

Here's some background on those days. I served in a unit designated
"Processing Company," a unit that was lily-white, except for this
correspondent. I worked, lived, drank, partied, went sight-seeing and
on road trips with my white colleagues. I drank, partied, and went on
leave (the term "furlough" may be obsolete or maybe just not used
during "peacetime"; I never heard it in my day, though I recall it from
WWII) with black G.I.'s from other units. So, I heard slang "from both
sides then," so to speak.

-Wilson



>
> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: "Long, Tall Texan"
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>
> On Dec 2, 2004, at 10:32 AM, Mark A. Mandel wrote:
>
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: "Mark A. Mandel"
>> Subject: Re: "Long, Tall Texan"
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>> Wilson answers one question and raises another:
>>>>>>>
>> On some other occasion, she mentioned that,
>> when she was a child, kids said, "Well, you thought like Lit, 'cause
>> you fart when you shit!" when someone said, "But I thought...!" So, I
>> was for sure that adults knew, at most, those three words and what
>> they
>> meant.
>> <<<<<
>>
>> So who is Lit?
>>
>> -- Mark
>> [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>>
>
> Hm. My guess is that it's just a "name" pulled out of someone's ass to
> make the rhyme. FWIW, I was in the Army when I first heard that phrase.
> In those days, the person using the phrase pantomimed the action of
> pulling something out of his ass. It was killingly funny! ...Uh, it's
> not? Well, maybe you had to have been there.;-)
>
> -Wilson
>
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