Just wondering

[Dennis Preston]

Wilson, that's your ass!

"That's your ass," shortened to "your ass,"  is not the equivalent to
"up yours" in my standard vernacular."Up yours" is a run-of-the mill
insult, comeback, etc.. (much like "fuck you"). "(That's) your ass"
is an indication that the speaker had lied, exaggerated, or perhaps
behaved (usually verbally) in some inappropriate or undesirable way
or has revealed something shocking or surprising, which could not
possibly evoke an "Up yours."

dInIs


>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Just wondering
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Has anyone else besides me noticed that whites say, "Up yours!",
>whereas blacks say "Your ass!" (I'm assuming that "Up yours!" is also
>a clip of "[Fuck you] up your ass!")
>
>-Wilson
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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