"spend a penny" -- the TLS is at it again.

[Jonathan Lighter]

Precisely.

If it's real and  - and even I have to admit it seems so - and refers to,
er, Number Two (as it seems to) I can only hark back to my Freudian ref. of
last week.

Everything you want to know (and, of course, more) is here:

http://www.enotes.com/psychoanalysis-encyclopedia/feces

JL

On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 2:26 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "spend a penny" -- the TLS is at it again.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 10/6/2011 01:52 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >And to you too, Joel.
> >
> >As special bonus, the phrase seems to have nothing to do with pay toilets.
> >
> >...unless...
>
> So, do we have any idea where the penny comes from?
>
> Also, I do wonder whether the context of laxatives suggests
> "defecate" as the 1742 meaning rather than "urinate".
>
> >But who could be that skeptical of a two-hundred-year antedating?
>
> Only Jon, who's skeptical of a 15- to 40- year antedating of
> "African-American".  :-)
>
> Joel
>
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