1947 citing in Archie Comic of "butthole." What did it mean?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks, Ben.

It's supports my theory that "butthole" was largely a Southern term.

It's also the earliest ex. by many years of "a new butt/asshole."

JL

On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 9:00 AM, Ben Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: 1947 citing in Archie Comic of "butthole." What did it
> mean?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 8:19 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, Apr 26, 2012 at 11:13 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
> > >
> > > Further discussion by James McElvenny on Fully (sic), an Australian
> > > linguablog:
> > >
> > > http://blogs.crikey.com.au/fullysic/2012/04/27/kind-of-butthole/
> >
> > Where's  vulgar "butthole" attested to in 1942?
> >
> > I don't doubt it. Just curious.
>
> It's in Green's Dictionary of Slang, as McElvenny says. The cite is
> from Zora Neale Hurston's _Dust Tracks on a Road_: "Dat white man come
> messing with me and I'll cut him a brand new butt-hole."
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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