Inquiring minds want to know...

[Laurence Horn]

On Aug 3, 2012, at 8:18 PM, Jeff Prucher wrote:

> Possibly more context in this interview:
>
> http://www.vulture.com/2012/08/rashida-jones-celeste-and-jesse-forever-interview.html
>
> "We do sometimes go on jags where we jerk off vegetables and then, like,
> four hours have gone by. And weâ•˙ve done nothing, but thereâ•˙s a lot of,
> like, chafed Asian cucumbers."
>
> Jeff Prucher

Aha. Thanks for helping us sort it out. So the Times was right and Jon's and my guesses (jack/jerk off *with*), though plausible, were off-base.  Rubbing Asian cukes raw--who knew?  On the other hand, they're really not that spherical.  (I wonder if vegans would object to this sort of activity.)

LH
>
>
>
>> Well, there's "jerk off with" and "jack off with," but my impression was
>> that these must have eliminated from consideration for some reason.
>>
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 3, 2012 at 10:38 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>>> Sender:Â  Â  Â Â Â American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:Â  Â  Â Â Â Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>> Subject:Â  Â  Â  Re: Inquiring minds want to know...
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> On Aug 3, 2012, at 8:46 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>
>>>> Try "screw" or the equivalent.
>>>
>>> So "[masturbate]" is a euphemism for "screw" or the equivalent?  I'm not
>>> convinced it is, even in metaphorical contexts.
>>>>
>>>> See, strictly speaking vegetables don't have...so you can't...but it's
>>>> metaphorical.
>>>>
>>>> Also, do "spherical" vegetables really work best?
>>>
>>> I wondered about that too ("vegetables and other spherical objects"?), but
>>> I guess we'll have to see the movie and decide for ourselves.
>>>
>>> LH
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
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