Who knew?! ;-)

[Jonathan Lighter]

To a more literal era, Swift's "after your Arse" would have meant only
"behind you; in your wake."

The contributory relationship to the more recent and comprehensive "(one's)
ass" 'one's self' seems obvious in retrospect, but HDAS couldn't find any
likely exx. till 1821.  Owing to publishing taboos, there's no way to
know when it became common. It seems not to appear in Victorian um
literature.  (The 1821 ex., with asterisks, is used by a comically crude
character; the book is unrelated to um.)

I believe that "piece of ass" is a 19th C.  elaboration of the far older
"piece," often used in sexually suggestive contexts.  Cites don't appear
till the 1920s, however.

JL

On Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 10:43 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Who knew?! ;-)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Fro the OED Online:
>
>
> 1593    F. Sabie Fissher-mans Tale l. 340,
>
>  I sawe one Lasse farre comelier than the rest, A peerlesse _peece_
> [?of arse?], an heart-delighting gyrle.
>
>
> 1704    Swift Full Acct. Battel between Bks. in Tale of Tub 244
>
> Do you think I have nothing else to do‥but to Mend and Repair after _your
> Arse_?
>
>
> --
> -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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