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

[Jonathan Lighter]

More precisely, I'm arguing that the phrase to "get butthole" is both a
hapax and either a nonce use or some kind of prank.

The apparent vulgarity compounds the mystery which is not "What did it mean
in the strip?" but the broader one of "What's it doing there in the first
place?"

JL

On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 8:51 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

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> 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 5/13/12 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> > It's the only time the strip uses the word "butthole." There's one other
> > use of "prime," weeks later, in the sense of "enjoyable; splendid."
> > "Bug-house" appears once but clearly hyphenated.
> >
> > Montana (who, judging from a photo on p. 295, strongly resembled Jughead)
> > uses a fair amount of slang, most of it either familiar late '40s stuff
> > (e.g., "cut a rug," "clip joint," "keen," "jaloppy," "square," "hep,"
> > etc.).  I see no evidence anywhere among the strips of the kind of
> > super-subtle punning that would be suggested by a contrast between
> "prime"
> > and "offal."
> >
> > Montana uses a number of expressions that strike me as ad-hoc and for the
> > nonce. Certainly I've never seen them before and they have a factitious
> > sound. Examples: "crack knees" (dance), "drip-lip" (a 'drip'), "tight as
> a
> > sailor's britches," "hop the hickories" (go skiing), "feeble greeble"
> > (weakling), "flick a lid" (take a look), "gush-slush" (romantic lyrics),
> > etc.
> So are you arguing/concluding that "butthole" in "butthole job" is not
> only a hapax legomenon but also a nonce use/word?
>
> ---Amy West
>
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