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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Here's what's problematic about the OED def.:

As Wilson observes, it defines "butt" as 'a buttock.'  Certainly this is
one meaning (I've heard "the left [or right] butt"), but  even more
certainly it is less frequent than 'the buttocks.'

Second, it isn't clear at all whether the c1450 ex. refers to the human
anatomy or to a loin of meat (I assume the latter, but I can't tell).  If
it's a loin, there's no evidence of application to the buttocks till five
centuries later. That seems to me inadequate. HDAS has a couple before
1859, but not before 1720, a three-century gap.

If "butt" originally referred solely to beef and pork, its later
application to humans is rhetorically marked to the point of slanginess
(IMO).

Though moot today, the U.S. label _colloq._ was prob. less accurate than
the _Century's_ label _Vulgar_.  At least, the experience of seventy
years  later (including its absence from newspapers) strongly suggests
this.

JL

On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 8:21 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: 1947 citing in Archie Comic of "butthole." What did it
> mean?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 5/10/12 12:02 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > OED1 does have the relevant sense, covering both animal and human
> buttocks:
> >
> > http://books.google.com/books?id=r2pXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1215
> Indeed, there it is. Butt sb3, sense 3. Thanks for correcting my error.
> I don't know why I missed it earlier, other than that I was looking at a
> print copy. That pretty much settles that any pre-teen or teen boys
> would snicker about "butthole" regardless of its non-vulgar use, and
> regardless of Maher's claim that "butt" wasn't used that way in the 40s.
>
> ---Amy West
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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