"Your ass is grass ...

[Paul A Johnston, Jr.]

Being of the '60s generation, the version I heard at U of Mich.  was "Your ass is grass and I'm gonna smoke it."

Paul Johnston
----- Original Message -----
From: Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 8:43 pm
Subject: Re: "Your ass is grass .B..

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Your ass is grass ...
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 8:06 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > "... and I'm the lawnmower."
> >
> > This was discussed here a while ago, but, as far as I can tell from
> > cursorily checking the archives, no dating was supplied.
> >
> > IAC, these words were spoken by the late, great Murray "Sgt. Clyde"
> > Hamilton to the late, great Tab "Rct. Andy Sheaffer" Hunter in the
> > 1956 movie, _The Girl He Left Behind._.
> >
> > I don't know whether this line was made up for the movie by Guy
> > Troper, the screenwriter. If not, it's probably older than 1956
>
> According to reviews in _Time_, the line in both the novel and the
> film is:
>
> "If you screw up around here, your behinds will be grass and I
> will be
> the lawnmower."
>
> http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,867007,00.html
> http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,808693-2,00.html
>
> Of course, the euphemization spoils the rhyme, so what's the
> point? :->
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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