Bullcorn

[Wilson Gray]

I've long since learned not to approach the altar without first
consulting the Bible. :-) Nevertheless, it's still attention-grabbing
when one of these old ghosts appears, risen from the grave of
non-usage, especially on Hallowe'en!

FWIW, "bullcorn" in Southern - well, in East-Texas, at least - BE is
anomalous, since "-orn" is pronounced as "own." "Choppin' cone" is a
usual summer job for working-class black kids. It's probably just
another instancee of people who can't say "awe," but they can still
say, "aw, hell!"

-Wilson

On 10/31/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Bullcorn
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> HDAS,  your one-stop slang source (TM),  has both "bullcorn" and the form "bull con," which is from the 1890s.
>
>   JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Bullcorn
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Just heard this used on That '70s Show as an obvious euphemism for
> "bullshit." I've personally known this as a euphemism for "bullcome,"
> the local equivalent of "bullshit" used in East Texas BE, since I was
> about ten years old. I also heard stories of the use of "bullcorn" by
> their Southern relatives from, e.g. Alabama, from friends in Los
> Angeles during the 'Sixties.
>
> -Wilson
> --
> Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
> complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -----
> Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
> a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
> race. He brought death into the world.
>
> --Sam Clemens
>
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--
Everybody says, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange
complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is knows how deep
a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our
race. He brought death into the world.

--Sam Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org