UD: 1) _dick string_; 2)_snapping pussy_

[Jonathan Lighter]

As Wilson and HDAS both imply, context and the limited evidence suggest
that the string in question is notional rather than physical.

Once a common snapping turtle snaps, it becomes impossible for you to
remove your finger, toe, nose, etc., from its jaws until it decides to let
go, which in my experience can be thirty seconds or more. (It will seem
longer.)  In folk belief, you have to wait till sundown or when it
thunders. (It will seem longer.)

Thus, references to other kinds of snappers are what we academics call
"hyperbolic."

BTW, if you're bitten by an *alligator* snapper, you can get away
immediately because your finger, toe, nose, etc., will have been removed
*for* you.

JL





On Mon, Nov 26, 2012 at 5:33 AM, Damien Hall <damien.hall at newcastle.ac.uk>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Damien Hall <damien.hall at NEWCASTLE.AC.UK>
> Subject:      UD: 1) _dick string_; 2)_snapping pussy_
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Mightn't a _dick-string_ be the frenulum (of prepuce of penis), which can
> otherwise be known as a _banjo string_?  The inspiration for 'popping' it
> might then be the pressure that it can come under in certain circumstances
> of sexual attraction.
>
> I'm fairly confident about that and less confident about this proposal for
> _snapping pussy_, but might that be to do with tightness?
>
> Damien
>
> --
>
> Damien Hall
> Newcastle University (UK)
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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