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

[Jonathan Lighter]

The HDAS files have several exx. in addition to that from 1890.  The
documentation of "wham-bam, thank you ma'am" as a sexual allusion, however,
does not begin until the WWII era.

My understanding (from God knows where) is that the early custom (ca1890)
was that when a wagon hit a bump in the road, any male involved could demand
a kiss from any handy female. Hence the "Thank you ma'am!"

But it culd be BS.

JL

On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 3:06 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Phrase: the old, slam-bang, thank-you-ma'ams (automobile
>              tires circa 1925 probably)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 2:42 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
> > breaker: ridge of earth in hilly part of country road
>
> Hmm. A little judicious editing:
>
> breaker: ridge of earth in country road
>
> and we have the possible source of _speedbreaker_ "speedbump," used
> (only?) by BE-speakers in the Saint Louis of my youth.
>
> --
> -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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