From a hole in the ground...

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:22 AM -0400 8/9/06, Geoff Nathan wrote:
>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.
>
Yes, I think that must have been one of the sources of the
euphemistic version I mentioned.  Presumably if you don't know your
ass from either your elbow or a hole in the ground, it's likely that
you don't know your elbow from a hole in the ground either.

LH

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