"Opinions/Excuses are like noses/asses..." (1928, 1973)

[Charles Doyle]

Or (more likely?) in those early and decorous times, the
word "noses" SUBSTITUTED for "asses" in printed (and maybe
oral) versions of the proverb--an instance of what Freud
called upward displacement . . . .

--Charlie



---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 21:12:28 EDT
>From: Bapopik at AOL.COM
>Subject: "Opinions/Excuses are like noses/asses..." (1928,
1973)
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header ----
-------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-
L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Bapopik at AOL.COM
>Subject:      "Opinions/Excuses are like noses/asses..."
(1928, 1973)
>------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------
>
>More on this "everybody's got one" formation. A form of the
nose proverb
>appears to be pre-1920. In the 1960s or 1970s, it appears,
that got changed to
>"rear ends" or "asses."

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