the butt patrol

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:02 AM -0400 6/23/11, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>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

I associate it with television shows or movies in which someone
(usually a young lad) has decided to run away from home.  They always
come back--maybe because they hadn't mastered the proper logistics of
bindling, having modeled themselves after the wrong bindlestiffs.


LH

>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
>>
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org