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

[Jonathan Lighter]

So basically we're back where we started.

 It would be nice to see what the other papers ran that day, but it looks
like we won't be doing that.

Even if Bob Montana himself dug cigarette graves throughout World War II, a
scabrous prank appears to be the most likely explanation.

By either a letterer or the Lord of the Flies.

JL

On Mon, Apr 30, 2012 at 2:57 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: 1947 citing in Archie Comic of "butthole." What did it
> mean?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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