Sphincter Factor (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, in the movie, The Usual Suspects, "pucker" is used to mean
"anus, anal sphincter," simply as a noun.

-Wilson

On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 10:02 AM, Mullins, Bill
AMRDEC<Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
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> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â Re: Sphincter Factor (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> A little looking through Google Books shows PF is much more common than
> SF, and that PF goes back to the mid-1960's at latest.
>
> Also, there appears to be a formal medical sense for "sphincter factor"
> in addition to the sense mentioned by Scot below.
>
>
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
>> Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 8:59 AM
>> To: 'American Dialect Society'
>> Subject: RE: Sphincter Factor (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
>> Caveats: NONE
>>
>> I've heard it much more often as "pucker factor".
>>
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>> > Behalf Of Scot LaFaive
>> > Sent: Friday, June 12, 2009 8:13 AM
>> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > Subject: Sphincter Factor
>> >
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -------------
>> --
>> > --------
>> > Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster: Â  Â  Â  Scot LaFaive <slafaive at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject: Â  Â  Â Sphincter Factor
>> >
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> --
>> > --------
>> >
>> > I recently came across this phrase used to rate the tenseness of a
>> > situation
>> > (as in, the more tense the situation, the tighter the sphincter),
> and
>> > it
>> > appears to have its roots in the James Cameron movie "The Abyss"
> from
>> > 1989.
>> > I don't ever hear the term used, but it appears to have some play on
>> > the
>> > web. I'm guessing someone here can probably date it earlier than
>> 1989.
>> >
>> > BTW, Â the new ADS search page is very nice!
>> >
>> > Scot
>> >
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>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
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--
-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.
-----
-Mark Twain

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