unscripted speech

[James Smith]

Please clarify the drift of this discussion:  "lickety
split" has become an obscene phrase to be avoided in
genteel company, it is an old locution that is
occasionally used in a ribald manner, or it was
originally an sexual reference that has passed into
common use with the old meaning popping up
occasionally.

>From MOA:
“But he unly got clear by the skin of his teeth; that
is, by rushin' his canoe up, and dashin' crost with it
to t'other side here (for the Injins didn't know this
place, and kept straight on), and lickety splittin' it
down'ards to Simon's Slew, where he hid a whull day in
the bushes."
Woods and waters; or, The Saranacs and Racket, by
Street, Alfred Billings (1811?-1881), published in
1860.


--- George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU> wrote:

> I very vaguely remember a dirty joke, the point of
> which was "lickety-
> split" = "cunnilingus".  If heard, then from my
> college years, early
> 60s; if read, then probably in one of Gershom
> Legman's books.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African
> Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
> Date: Sunday, September 4, 2005 8:50 pm
> Subject: Re: unscripted speech
>
> > Several years ago I saw a movie on TV--I don't
> remember its name,
> > but it was about a man in prison who could run
> extremely fast and
> > was always doing laps around the prison yard. He
> was brought to
> > the attention of a track coach, who then trained
> him for races
> > against the best track stars. He would have won if
> he had received
> > permission from the prison board to participate,
> but he failed to
> > show the necessary remorse for his crime and wound
> up speaking in
> > anger to the board.
> >    Anyway,  IIRC, the prisoners all had nicknames
> (given by the
> > other prisoners), and I distinctly remember that
> the nickname of
> > this track-star prisoner was "Lickety-Split."
> >    If there was anything off-color about the
> nickname, evidently
> > no one told the movie director.
> >
> > Gerald Cohen
> >
> > > ----------
> >        Original message from Jonathan Lighter,
> Sept. 3, 2005:
> >
> > > Since that time, though, I've noticed that it is
> almost never
> > used in public. ...
> > >
> > > If they find out about our avoidance of
> "lickety-split," they'll
> > laugh their asses off.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> >
>


James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.

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