From a hole in the ground...

[Geoff Nathan]

Automatic digest processor wrote:
>>>>
>> I think we've discussed this in the past (not antedates, but
>> different formulas); I probably mentioned growing up with an
>> expurgated version that never made sense--"doesn't know his elbow
>> from a hole in the ground/wall"--and having an Aha! moment when I
>> first encountered the "ass" version.  Then there's the version in
>> Hamlet and no doubt elsewhere, "I know a hawk from a hacksaw".  That
>> distinction seems easy enough to draw, more like the elbow/hole than
>> the ass one; a tougher one is "can't tell shit from Shinola", which
>> might well pose a challenge, especially for someone with a head cold.
>>
>> LH
Curiously, my father (Leeds, b 1920) frequently says 'doesn't know his
ass from his elbow'.  Must be involved somehow, I would guess.

Geoff

--
Geoffrey S. Nathan <geoffnathan at wayne.edu>

Faculty Liaison, Computing and Information Technology,
and Associate Professor of English, Linguistics Program
Phone Numbers (313) 577-1259 or (313) 577-8621
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI, 48202

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