Mark Twain's profanity

[Jonathan Lighter]

And still in use.

JL

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:03 AM, William Palmer <palmerwil at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       William Palmer <palmerwil at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Mark Twain's profanity
>
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>
> Classic euphemism, courtesy of Geo. H. W. Bush..."in deep doo-doo"
>
> Bill Palmer
>
> On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 9:44 AM, James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>
> <
> JJJRLandau at netscape.com> wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
> >              <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Mark Twain's profanity
> >
> >
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> >
> > My play-writing friend wishes to thank those on the ADS-L who responded
> to
> > her relayed request for information about Mark Twain's profanity.  She
> has
> > found those comments quite helpful.
> >
> > Other comments:
> >
> > Re: "in the X":  you seem to have overlooked the common expressions "in
> > deep shit" and what appears to be its euphemized version "in deep
> kimche".
> >  I do not recall any other synonyms besides kimche.  Probably not
> important,
> > but I first recall hearing "in deep kimche" in the late 1970's from a
> > retired military warrant officer who had served at least one tour in
> Korea
> > and had at one time been a mess sergeant.
> >   Then there was the coworker of mine, originally from West Virginia, who
> > said of a supervisor "he's a lost ball in tall grass".
> >
> > a new metaphor:  in the "Delaware Valley" (a term that sometimes is
> > extended to include Atlantic City) there is considerable public attention
> > directed to environmental consequences of drilling for gas in the
> Marcellus
> > Shale.  One blogger (Sandy Bauer of the Philadelphia Inquirer,
> > www.philly.com/greenspace, in the Inquirer March 16, 2011, page A3) had
> > this to say:
> >
> >   "Is natural gas drilling the elephant in the room...?  Or the gorilla?
> >  Speakers put both terms in play last week at a river-basin forum...
> >   "Everyone in the [Delaware River] basin has a straw in the river, from
> > the thermoelectric plants that use massive quantitities [of water]...to
> the
> > little kid who wants a sip of water and a bath."
> >
> >     - Jim Landau
> >
> >
> >
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