the butt patrol

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Jun 23 12:02:25 UTC 2011


Even in my day, "bindle" was a rather esoteric term in everyday life.

What's more shocking is that a bindle would be carried at the "end" of a
stick.

Gravity says it should be tied onto the stick and allowed to sink to the
shoulder, with the end of the stick projecting out behind.

But today's hoboes undoubtedly prefer backpacks and gym bags, just as those
of a hundred years ago preferred Civil War style blanket rolls.

And you can't carry a whole lot on a "stick."  I think the stick image must
have originated with nineteenth-century kids packing a few sandwiches while
goin' fishin'.

JL
On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 12:07 AM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: the butt patrol
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> And now for something completely different: A man with three buttocks!
> http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/3bums.htm
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Arnold Zwicky" <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 12:11 AM
> Subject: the butt patrol
>
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> > header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> > Subject:      the butt patrol
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > (with ADS-L references)
> >
> >
> http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/a-pain-in-the-grammatical-butt/
> >
>  > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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