Butthole tree

[Laurence Horn]

On Apr 25, 2012, at 2:41 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 4/25/2012 02:15 PM, Eric Nielsen wrote:
>> Yes, but as Jonathan Lighter noted earlier:
>> 
>> "...The single exception is from the
>> journal _Veneers and Plywood_ (apparently 1952), which refers casually to a
>> hole in a tree trunk as a "butt hole."
>> 
>> A butthole in a tree would later be a concern to those who fashion wood
>> because they would have to work around it.
> 
> So would any burl (4.a. "A knot in wood (U.S.)"; also 1. "A small
> knot or lump in wool or cloth").  So a butthole must be the term for
> a particular kind (shape) of burl.  From its resemblance to ... butt-ocks.
> 
> Joel
> 

Some of you of a certain age, especially anyone who shared my devotion to the Brooklyn Dodgers, may recall a pre-game broadcast called "Happy Felton's Knothole Gang" on Channel 9, which featured an illustration of kids looking at a game through a hole in the outfield fence.  Here's an actual photo of kids doing so at Ebbets Field:
http://www.ebbets-field.com/TheEarlyYears/KnotHoleGang.jpg
And here's a thread on the Knothole Gang itself: 
http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?54751-Happy-Felton-s-Knothole-Gang

Somehow I suspect the broadcast wouldn't have made the cut if it had been billed as "The Butthole Gang".

LH

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