1947 Archie Comic "butthole." What did it mean?

[J P Maher]

There's is an aspect of A_Hole word that is being overlooked. Is the text literal or figurative? Archie means it literally, and in particular the butt end of a critter, not a human... I relate a classic moment form one of my classes. On the tangled subjects of diglossia and register, I wrote on the blackboard DENTIST and ask a la Socrates what kind of medic this was. Tooth doctor, the Socratically quizzed youngsters answered. I wrote on the board ORTHODONTIST. What kind of doctor is this? I got the correct answer. I went on to ask why Dr 2 also writes on his shingle the various services he performs, while Dr 1 does not. All were in agreement that everyone goes to the dentist, not everyone to the orthodontist. I added: it's also that dentistry is an old, nigh universally know branch, while orthodontia is younger and not so established: you learn the word when you get your first braces. I went on to write PROCTOLOGIST on the board ands asked why Dr 3 does
 not spell out his focus. Why not? A smart-ass answered in uninhibited, not unfriendly manner _ because he's an ass-holke doctor_. Class laughs. All but one, a foreign student from non -European land.He asks earnestly _Dr Maher, why is this doctor an ass-hole?- --- Class laughs.
---Archie was speaking literally about meat animals, not metaphorically about people he disliked and, as is widely practticed in the world. in terms used primarliy for animals, not humans....

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