Morning wood (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Benjamin Barrett]

The earliest I see on Google is "Beavis and Butt-Head," which is my recollection of first seeing the word.

Episode 144, "The Mystery of Morning Wood," aired on November 20, 1995 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Beavis_and_Butt-head_episodes).

http://www.textfiles.com/media/bbh_intv.txt has a claim of the use on August 19, 1993 by Butt-Head in an interview by Charles M. Young of "Rolling Stone." Butt-Head says, 'That would be cool. Huh-huh. "Give us this day our morning wood."'

If "Beavis and Butt-Head" is the origin, it may be that "Woodrow" is the source. There is a glossary of Beavis and Butt-Head terms at http://www.beavis-butthead.ru/yellow_articles_115.html, where it lists "Woodrow":

-----
Woodrow: An erection. Other terms are "Morning Wood" (waking up in the morning with an erection), "Stiffy", "It's high noon on my sundial", and "Our pencils are hard". When they are talking about getting an erection, they say things like: "Pitching a tent", "I'm getting a boner", and "I'm getting a stiffy!".
-----

Evidently Beavis uses the term Woodrow (http://iamcornholio.tumblr.com/page/2, http://www.behindthename.com/name/woodrow/comments). 

See also http://www.beavis-butthead.ru/yellow_articles_107.html, which says: "They can't believe someone would say `Woodrow' on TV." That implies that the term "Woodrow" is already a set slang term, but it isn't definitive.

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA

On Nov 16, 2012, at 5:30 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> I'd look for evidence a bit earlier -- perhaps by about a decade (or less).
> At the time, it was suggested it came from BE... Whether there is a
> connection, I have no idea.
> 
>                  VS-)
> 
> On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 2:03 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
> Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> I associate the phrase with Wayne and Garth from the "Wayne's World"
>> sketches on SNL.
>> 
>>> 
>>> --------
>>> 
>>> Ca 1993, IIRC.
>>> 
>>> JL
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org