Turd Blossoms in Texas?

[Darla Wells]

My stepmother is from Atlanta, Texas, near Texarkana and she called all of us
kids "fartblossoms" growing up. That would have been in the late 60's or so,
and she still uses the term.
Darla

With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a
frog into a Ph.D and you still have the frog you started with. (Terry Pratchett)

---------- Original Message -----------
From: Bapopik at AOL.COM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Mon, 13 Aug 2007 02:02:44 EDT
Subject: Turd Blossoms in Texas?

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Subject:      Turd Blossoms in Texas?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If anyone (HDAS?) has turd blossoms, please send them over here. Is
> this a  Texas term? ... ... ...
> _http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/turd_blossom/_
> (http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/texas/entry/turd_blossom/) ...
>
> Entry from August 13, 2007
> Turd Blossom
>
> "Turd Blossom” was a nickname for George W. Bush’s adviser, Karl
> Rove. The  term was popularized in 2002.
>
> A “turd blossom” is supposedly a Texas  term for a flower that
> grows from manure, but historical citations for this  alleged
> regional definition are lacking.
>
> _Wikipedia: Turd Blossom_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turd_Blossom)
>    Turd Blossom, according to partisans of Karl Rove and George W.
> Bush,  is a Texan term for a flower which grows from a pile of cow
> dung. The term has  gained notoriety in the United States, as
> reportedly this is one of President  George W. Bush’s terms of
> endearment for his chief political advisor, Karl Rove.  Bush is also
> reported to call Rove by the nickname ”Boy Genius.“
>
> Few, if  any, native Texans would recognize this definition of
> ‘turd blossom.’ ‘Turd  blossom’ was used in 1960s Texas high
> school slang to describe the spreading  smell of a fart, or the
> spreading stain of a loose bowel movement. Neither Rove  nor George
> W. Bush attended high school in Texas, and they may have been
> unfamiliar with the original use of the word. ‘Fart blossom’ was
> a common  variant.
>
> _Google  Groups: alt.usage.english_
>
>
(http://groups.google.com/group/alt.usage.english/browse_thread/thread/45d3bd0fb799e27/d34b040d6e48705a?lnk=st&q=&rnum=5
> 0&hl=en#d34b040d6e48705a)
> Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
> From: Ben  Zimmer
> Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 15:31:40 -0500
> Local: Thurs, Jun 28 2001 4:31 pm
> Subject: Re: Rove’s nickname?
>
> Turd Blossom.
>
> Time Magazine had no qualms printing it:
> _http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,107219,00.html_
>
>
(http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php?URL=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1072
19,00.html)
>
> An explanation is given in “First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush
>  Family Dynasty”, by Bill Minutaglio:
>
> “Everybody must have a nickname,  and the spin doctor has a
> quality nickname, Turd Blossom — as in  wherever-he-goes-something-
> is-sure-to-pop-up.”
>
> _Google  Books_
>
> (http://books.google.com/books?id=ChXd7GeqlToC&pg=RA1-
>
PA138&ots=zywGyJpcLW&dq="turd+blossom"&ei=tO6_RoWCFofI6wKtzY3qAg&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=Fnj
BXRNDa-D14GvFIy3YJCpeISk)  Boy Genius: Karl Rove, the Brains Behind the
Remarkable  Political Triumph of George W. Bush by Carl M. Canoon, Lou Debose
and  Jan Reid Public Affairs 2003 Pg. 138: Somewhere along the line,  after
they moved to Washington together, Bush began alternating Rove’s “Boy
Genius” nickname with another, less flattering moniker: “Turd Blossom.”
It seems  fitting enough, given Rove’s modest background (a turd blossom is
a Texas  expression for a flower that grows out of a cowpie), but Rove shrugs
in some  embarrassment when asked how Bush came up with this.
>
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------- End of Original Message -------

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