bunga-bunga

[Jonathan Lighter]

The joke ought to be in Legman's _No Laughing Matter_ (1982), but there's no
index to the 980 pp. of erudition and opinion, so I ain't looking.

JL

On Mon, Feb 28, 2011 at 10:34 AM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: bunga-bunga
>
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>
> On 2/28/2011 9:16 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: bunga-bunga
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Virginia Woolf implicated:
> >
> > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12325796
> >
> > BTW, when I heard the ribald joke cited by the article, some thirty-five
> > years ago, I believe the operative word was something other than
> > "bunga-bunga."  Maybe "ooga-booga" or something.  (But definitely not
> "Wagga
> > Wagga," "Walla Walla," or "Boogie Woogie.")
> --
>
> I don't get out enough, so I didn't hear this one until less than 30
> years ago. I think I heard it only once. The arbitrary 'foreign phrase'
> might have been "bunga bunga" or something similar but I can't remember.
>
> There is also the 'wrong hole' golf joke, which I've heard several times
> with 'African' locale and "oonga-boonga" and/or similar 'foreign phrase'
> which I can't exactly remember ... surely might have been "bunga bunga"
> or so sometimes. On the Web I see the same joke with variations
> (sometimes set in Japan, etc.): here is one which is close to what I've
> generally heard although with a different 'foreign phrase':
>
> http://forum.lelong.com.my/bbs/thread-15450-1-1.html
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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