"gun play"?

[Wilson Gray]

Yes. I'm just messing with you, man. :-)  Some time in the last
century, I read the phrase, "arsing about" in some Britspeak novel -
unless I *heard* "awssing about" in some Britspeak movie. "After the
king dropped, the hand played itself," as is heard in bridgespeak.

-Wilson

On Sat, Jan 2, 2010 at 9:01 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "gun play"?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Wilson, are you giving me the horselaugh?
>
> (A word I haven't heard in decades, BTW).
>
> JL
> On Fri, Jan 1, 2010 at 9:03 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "gun play"?
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> Of course it does! Else, why the euphemism?
>>
>> -Wilson, arsing about
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Jonathan Lighter
>> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: "gun play"?
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >
>> > It doesn't look like "horseplay" was a euphemism for anything in 1589.
>> > The OED offers another sense from about the same time (1599, but given
>> > sequential priority for some reason),
>> > "Play in which a horse is used or takes part; theatrical horsemanship."
>> >
>> > I've long assumed that the original reference was to the play of
>> > high-spirited colts. (It may be only my imagination, however.)
>> >
>> > Does _*arseplay_ even exist?
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> > On Thu, Dec 31, 2009 at 4:48 PM, Robin Hamilton <
>> > robin.hamilton2 at btinternet.com> wrote:
>> >
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>> >> -----------------------
>> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton2 at BTINTERNET.COM>
>> >> Subject:      Re: "gun play"?
>> >>
>> >>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>> >>
>> >> > @Larry:
>> >> >
>> >> > So, "horseplay" has been used as a euphemism for "arseplay" since at
>> >> > least the 16th c. Amazing.
>> >> >
>> >> > -Wilson
>> >>
>> >> As in, "Stop arsing around!" which I imagine is still current, and has
>> to
>> >> reflect UK rather than US English, since it makes no sense when couche=
> d
>> as
>> >> "Stop assing around."
>> >>
>> >> I am reminded, for whatever reason, of the (now Sir) David Frost's
>> Younger
>> >> Brother Joke, current in the sixties, which emerged obliquely from
>> TWTWTW.
>> >>
>> >> {The punch-line of which wasn't, but perhaps should have been, "fribbl=
> e
>> >> off,
>> >> Rudolph!"}
>> >>
>> >> Robin Hamilton
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -Wilson
>> =96=96=96
>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint t=
> o
>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> =96Mark Twain
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-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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