jackwagon

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:18 AM -0400 7/29/10, Wilson Gray wrote:
>On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 7:49 AM, Jonathan Lighter
><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>  [J]ackwad" may or may not be disgusting,
>>depending on your sense of language.
>
>Does this _wad_ have anything to do with the one in "shoot one's
>_wad_"? And does that _wad_ have anything to do with "Johnny Wadd,"
>the cinematic character immortalized by the late, great John Holmes?

Yes on both counts, although not a causal
relation in the latter case; Johnny Wadd is one
more instance.

>
>I had to have the pun explained to me, since _wad_, IME, has no
>obscene connotations in BE. Before I heard the explanation, my
>assumption had been that "shoot" and "wad" had to do with the wadding
>used in loading muskets.

Makes sense, but doesn't that wad get shot (out)?
This would then set up the metaphor of "shooting
one's wad" sexually à la "discharge", as we
discussed a little while ago.

>Hence, according to my sense of language, both "jackwagon" and
>"jackwad" are nonsense nonce forms. After hearing the "jack off"
>portion of Robert's lecture, I must have slept through the part
>wherein he expostulated upon "jack *wad.*
>
>OT: Does the voiceover-guy for that movie *really* say, "Dinner For
>*[s]mucks*," instead of "... [S]mucks"?

As in "Smuckers"?  "Dinner for Smucks"--with a
name like that, it *has* to be good.

LH

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