Phrase: the old, slam-bang, thank-you-ma'ams (automobile tires circa 1925 probably)

[Dan Goncharoff]

Also see this from Dialect Notes, Vol. 1, 1890

breaker: ridge of earth in hilly part of country road, to throw surface
■water into side ditches. Springdale, Pa. (Other names for same thing:
"*thank-you-ma'am,"
cradle (in-the-road).') *[In Conn. "*water-butt" *is the usual word; *
"thank-you-ma'am" *is known. — E. H. B. Other names are known; reports are
solicited.]

DanG


On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 1:54 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Phrase: the old, slam-bang, thank-you-ma'ams (automobile
>              tires circa 1925 probably)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In the late 1940s/early 1950s, my mother would call an unexpected dip or
> rise in the road -- the sort of irregularity that gives the sense that the
> body and the stomach are moving in opposite directions -- a
> "thank-you-ma'am".  This connects with "the ruts and bumps and hairpin
> turns" in Garson's post.
>
> I don't recall whether she explained it to me -- I rather have the
> impression that crossing this sort of dip might give riders (an excuse for)
> catching hold of each other.
>
> Mother was born in central Mass. in 1900, and no doubt remembered
> travellin=
> g
> in carriages.
>
> GAT
>
> On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 3:05 AM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> >w=
> rote:
>
> > Thursday's  Freakonomics blog post discussed the phrase
> > "wham-bam-thank-you ma=92am!"
> >
> > http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/07/07/where-does-wham-bam-come-from/
> >
> > Fred listed an instance in the 1948 play Mister Roberts, where a
> > sailor character said "Well there goes the liberty.  That was sure a
> > wham-bam-thank-you ma'am!"
> >
> > Cassell's Dictionary of Slang (2005) lists some variants in which the
> > terms "ram bam", "gangbang" and "slam bam" are substituted for "wham
> > bam".
> >
> >
> >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3D5GpLcC4a5fAC&q=3Dram+bam#v=3Dsnippet&q=
> =3Dram%20bam&f=3Dfalse
> >
> > I found an instance of "ram bam" in 1943 in a book by the prominent
> > humorist Max Shulman. According to Google Books the following passage
> > appears in the novel "Barefoot Boy with Cheek".
> >
> > A barefoot maiden in a white gown entered bearing a young ram above
> > her head. She deposited the ram in Roger's lap. "Ram, bam, Thank you
> > ma'am" he said.
> >
> > So Max Shulman constructed a scenario in which "ram" referred to a
> > literal animal, but the humor for some readers may have been generated
> > by the knowledge of the sexual meaning of the phrase. Shulman was
> > familiar with the college slang of this period. I have not verified
> > this citation on paper, so the data may be incorrect. Here is a link:
> >
> >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3DboAGAQAAIAAJ&q=3D%22ram+bam%22#search_=
> anchor
> >
> > In 1925 the Barbasol shaving cream company ran an interesting
> > advertisement in The American Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post.
> > The phrase "the old, slam-bang, thank-you-ma'ams" was used to refer to
> > old-fashioned automobile tires which produced a bumpy and jolting
> > ride. The advertisement contrasted these tires with the new balloon
> > tires which allowed for a more comfortable riding experience
> >
> >  Here is an excerpt extracted from Google Books archive (not verified on
> > paper):
> >
> > The Balloon-tired shave
> >
> > All who want to give up the nice, fat, easy-chair balloons and go back
> > to the old, slam-bang, thank-you-ma'ams of motoring, stand up! We
> > thought so.
> >
> > Barbasol smooths out the shaving road the same new, modern, easy way.
> > Takes all the ruts and bumps and hairpin turns out of the razor tour.
> >
> >
> >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3DISc7AQAAIAAJ&q=3D%22slam+bang%22#searc=
> h_anchor
> >
> >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3DziwaAQAAMAAJ&q=3D%22slam+bang%22#searc=
> h_anchor
> >
> > I have not verified these citations on paper, but the 1925 date is
> > plausible. Here is a date probe showing the front page of the October
> > 1925 issue of The American Magazine in the same volume as the
> > quotation.
> >
> >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3DziwaAQAAMAAJ&q=3D%22October%2C+1925%22=
> #search_anchor
> >
> > Here is a date probe showing a page header for the "November 7, 1925"
> > issue of the Saturday Evening Post in the same volume as the
> > quotation.
> >
> >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=3DISc7AQAAIAAJ&q=3D%22November+7%2C+1925=
> %22#search_anchor
> >
> > These instances suggest a hypothesis: The phrase may have been shifted
> > from the domain of automobiles and tires into a sexual domain and
> > assigned a new meaning. Alternatively, it is also possible that the
> > advertising copy writers were exploiting a double-entendre. When
> > Jonathon Green was editing Cassell's he listed 1940s+ for "wham bam,
> > thank you ma'am" in the abbreviated coitus sense. He may have an
> > earlier cite in his new slang reference. The publicly available HDAS
> > does not reach "w" or "s".
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --=20
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ=
> .
> Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.
>
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