Butthole tree

[Eric Nielsen]

I saw "butthole" as a metaphor for something bothersome--because it
would be in woodworking. The physical resemblance to a human butthole
is where the name comes from. After rereading the comic,
"butthole"--if it was at all intentional--seems to refer to something
boring due to repetition. It may just be there to mystify--gods or
aliens messing with us.

Eric


On 4/25/12, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Butthole tree
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
>>>=20
>>> "...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."
>>>=20
>>> A butthole in a tree would later be a concern to those who fashion =
> wood
>>> because they would have to work around it.
>>=20
>> 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.  =46rom its resemblance to ... =
> butt-ocks.
>>=20
>> Joel
>>=20
>
> 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:=20
> =
> 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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