Toward more picturesque Congressional speech

[Jonathan Lighter]

Sometimes I find myself sitting on my elbow.

Harder than it looks!

JL

On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 10:33 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Toward more picturesque Congressional speech
>
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>
> At 10:02 AM -0500 3/2/09, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >HDAS I naturally includes, s.v. "ass," the disapprobatory phrase "You
> >couldn't find your ass with both hands."
>
> And the real irony is when you finally do find it, you can't tell it
> from a hole in the ground.
>
> LH
>
> >Cf.:
> >
> >2009 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/05/sec-overmatched/(Feb.
> >5):
> >
> >Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, a New York Democrat whose district includes a large
> >number of Madoff investors, said he was "frustrated beyond belief."
> >
> >"You've told us nothing today, and I believe that was your intention," he
> >said, repeatedly interrupting the regulators as they tried to answer his
> >questions. "You couldn't find your backsides with two hands with the
> lights
> >on."
> >
> >JL
> >
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