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

[David A. Daniel]

So, there I was last night watching Big Bang Theory, the episode with
Stephen Hawking in it. At the end he is telling Sheldon that his (Sheldon's)
findings on the Higgs Boson particle are wrong. He says there is an
arithmetic mistake on page 2, "quite the boner," he says. This, of course,
would have sent Jake - over at Two and a Half Men - into hysterics: "Hawking
said boner!" And it may well set off a discussion some 60 years hence on the
ADS-L on the order of, "How could Hawking - Hawking! - have said something
so rude, even in those permissive days?" We, of course, being serious adults
of these times, know that he meant it was a really stupid mistake and that
the usage makes no reference at all to an erection. Those future folks,
however, may reckon boner=erection first (and maybe also something
innocuous, oh yes, here it is, it also meant stupid mistake, but surely the
principal meaning was erection and they were hoping to get away with it
based on its secondary, innocuous meaning... etc.) So you see where I am
winding tortuously my way to: As Baker, John says below, Montana almost
certainly used butthole innocuously, secondary meanings being secondary, in
the manner of Hawking's boner (heheh).
DAD
PS: If "Hawking's Boner" comes to mean public use of a word that has both an
innocent and a rude meaning, I claim it. I suppose it could also be called
an "Archie's Butthole." Anyone want to claim that one?




Poster:       "Baker, John" <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
Subject:      Re: 1947 citing in Archie Comic of "butthole." What did it
mean?
              (UNCLASSIFIED)
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---

Actually, my view is that Bob Montana most likely intentionally wrote
"butthole," having in mind some innocuous meaning that is opaque to us.  I
meant that, if there were vandalism, it would have been by his letterer;
vandalism at the syndicate is unlikely, and vandalism at the newspapers
themselves has been ruled out.


John Baker



Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 5:50 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: 1947 citing in Archie Comic of "butthole." What did it mean?
(UNCLASSIFIED)

I'm going to have to assume that you know this stuff, because I'm still
puzzled as to why a lettering vandalism would have been required if the
meaning was slangy but benign. I'll have to defer to your superior
knowledge of the situation, but as an average user, I would not have it
as my top choice of an explanation.

On a related note, I wanted to make an observation that all early
instances of "butthole" (so far) appear to imply a hole *with* a
butt--or a butted hole--*not* a hole *in* a butt. This would be
consistent with the interpretation of Montana's use as "dead-end" or
"bottom-of-the-barrel" job. An existence of an identical scatological
term (butt, not butthole) would not necessarily be seen as blocking the
ordinary use--or we would never have see another kid named John, Richard
or William since each has a variant that is used in a vulgar sense.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

     VS-)

On 5/8/2012 4:32 PM, Baker, John wrote:
>          Note that, if there were vandalism by a letterer, which is the
current theory, that would be reflected in the original art, so examining it
wouldn't tell us anything.  The family might know if Bob Montana used a
letterer, as opposed to lettering the strip himself.
> ...
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of sclements at NEO.RR.COM
> Sent: Tuesday, May 08, 2012 1:38 PM
>
> ...
> I'm of the opinion that contacting the family to see if they still have
the original for that date might be the only way to find out if the
newspaper copies were vandalized(which is my current leaning).
>
> Sam Clements

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