Boondocks on "b rokeback"

[Laurence Horn]

>The full name is, after all, "Brokeback Mountain." It is not uncommon for
>topographical names to have "negative polarity" not is it uncommon
>for movies to
>contain words with "negative polarity."
>
>I do find the film was a bit daring in selecting a title that is so close to
>"Bareback," given that that is a euphemism for unprotected anal sexual
>intercourse that is well known in American culture

I wonder if Annie Proulx, the author of the eponymous novella on
which it's based, was aware of that term.  Also, am I right in
(vaguely) recalling that the mountain name is real?

>--and I seriously doubt that those
>cowboys carried condoms into the field in the 1960s (even though they were
>actually herding sheep).

I'm pretty sure no condom was involved, at least on that first
occasion in the tent.  Seems like their fingers would have been too
cold to slip one on anyway.

larry

>In a message dated 1/24/06 7:20:53 AM, hwgray at GMAIL.COM writes:
>
>
>>  IMO, the latter use of "brokeback" has been extracted from the phrase,
>>  _ADJ as a brokeback mule_, a very common BE expression.probably two
>>  days older than water. I was a bit taken aback when I first learned
>>  that there was a movie entitled "Brokeback" anything, given the total
>>  negative polarity of the BE term, which is sometimes dysphemized as
>>  "brokedick."
>>
>>  -Wilson
>>
>
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