Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Mon Jul 26 22:46:59 UTC 2004


Thanks, Jeff.

Surely all these names didn't arise in the '80s???  (When necessary, I've always referred to it as "you know, that strap you can hang clothes on.")

JL

Jeff Prucher <jprucher at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jeff Prucher
Subject: Re: Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I first heard it as "Oh Jesus handle" in 1987 or 1988 in southeastern Michigan,
but I also recall "oh shit handle" and I'm sure we had other variants as well.

Jeff Prucher

--- Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I have found the following US terms for a handle or strap, typically of the
> kind inside a passenger car, that one may grab onto in an emergency. Can any
> of these be dated reliably to the period before ca.1990?
>
> The derivations shd be fairly apparent. Cf. the "Jesus nut" on a helicopter.
>
> holy-crap handle
>
> holy-shit handle
>
> Jesus handle
>
> Jesus strap
>
> oh-crap handle
>
> Oh-Jesus strap
>
> oh-shit handle
>
> shit handle
>
> Any comments wd be welcome.
>
>
> JL
>
>
>
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