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

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 4/30/2012 11:57 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> ....
> But "Rumpole" isn't "Rumphole."  Would that have gotten by?  Anyway, _butt_
> 'human posteriors, including the anus' seems more offensive (theoretically)
> than _rump_ 'buttocks.'
>
> Nobody says, "Stick it up your rump(hole)!"  Or "up your bottom-hole!"
>   Nobody said usage makes sense. ....
--

Of course an analogy is only an analogy.

It's my impression that today's "rump-hole" (which "nobody says") is
analogous to 1947's "butt-hole" (which "nobody said"). Of course
"nobody" doesn't really mean _no_body, and so a few instances of
"butthole" used for "asshole"/"anus" doubtless can be found from the
1940's just as Google will provide numerous examples of "rump-hole" used
like "asshole"/"anus" more recently. I believe "butthole" in 1947 was
overall infrequent, usually dialectal/idiosyncratic and/or a partial
euphemism, not recognizable to everyone especially in a strange
predicate-adjective context. I remember being mildly surprised at
hearing "butthole" used instead of "asshole"/"anus" in 1980 (IIRC I had
seldom or never heard "butthole" previously although from context I
immediately understood it). I still seldom hear it myself.

"Rumpole" is about as much like "Rumphole" as "Arsole" is like
"Arsehole": I don't know what UK censors would have permitted ca. 1970,
but I think "Arsole" would at least have been generally immediately
noticeable as an 'obscenity' while "Rumpole" would not have been (or
were there many "Rumphole" jokes about the TV show?).

I'm not sure which word is more offensive but I don't think it's
necessarily important in this context. I think any clear reference to
the anus or even the crotch (using any word or no word) in a popular
comic would have been avoided: imagine the comic figure saying "Gee,
Pop, I've got this itch, uh, you know, down in back between my legs,
since I used that talcum powder the guys gave me on April 1st."

-- Doug Wilson

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