"Biting the big one"

[Wilson Gray]

"Bit the green shiboda": interesting! Unfortunately, I can't say for
certain, anymore, whether I ever heard, "bit(e) the green wienie." Did
I ever hear it? Or does it merely seem that I heard it, because
Waits's phrase is so close to it?

No, I can't recall any catchphrase referencing "the green wienie,"
only the phrase itself. That bites the big one, to coin a phrase.

-Wilson

On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 6:45 PM, Bill Le May <blemay0 at mchsi.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Le May <blemay0 at MCHSI.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Biting the big one"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Interestingly, I've heard both meanings used in context with Frank Zappa.
> First, the "sucking" meaning from an interview in DownBeat magazine in which
> Tom Waits talks about touring with Frank's band:
>
> Hohman: The first time I saw you perform was back in St. Louis a few years
> ago, when you were playing Kiel Auditorium [Opera House] as a solo warm-up act for        > Zappa and the Mothers. Not only were you swamped by the sheer immensity of the
> hall, with your vocals almost totally inaudible, but the crowd was obviously
> a rock-oriented set. They were far from being into a lone guy up there
> singing tales of broken down autos and barroom troubles. That was a bad
> scene.
>
> Waits: Aw, man . the worst. I bit the green shiboda on that tour with Frank.
> That wasn't even the worst night, though: if I remember correctly, St. Louis
> was a snap. I had some real bitches on that tour.
>
> Entire interview here:
> http://www.tomwaitslibrary.com/interviews/76-jun17-downbeat.html
>
> The "dying" meaning was in the lyrics of a track titled "Whatever Happened
> to All the Fun in the World?" on Frank Zappa's Sheik Yerbouti album
>
> What ever happened to all the fun in the world?
> Larry's not with us any more; he went on y'know
> Yeah
> Yeah
> He bit the big one
> Yeah
> Well, he's got his own little piece of heaven now
>
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--
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.
-----
-Mark Twain

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