[Ads-l] QOTY? multiple positions

Joel Berson berson at ATT.NET
Wed Jun 29 15:01:00 UTC 2016


The dates below suggest a shift from squid to humans rather than the other way 'round.

I would be very interested in the earliest application(s) to politicians, however.

Joel


      From: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
 Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2016 8:44 PM
 Subject: Re: [ADS-L] QOTY? multiple positions
   
Bill Mullins wrote
> _Chicago Tribune_ 3 Dec 1982 sec 3 p 13 col 2
> [article about martial arts studio]
> "They fight with everything at Degerberg; all parts of the body
> in more positions than the Kama Sutra."

Below is an instance of the phrase in 1981. The domain of application
was shifted from humans to squid.

Date: July 31, 1981
Newspaper: Santa Cruz Sentinel
Newspaper Location: Santa Cruz, California
Article: Squid: From Bait to Plate
Author: Greg Beebe (Sentinel Staff Writer)
(Continuation title) From Bait to Plate
Start Page 17, Quote Page 26
Database: Newspapers.com

[Begin excerpt]
"Did you know that squid have both male and female sex organs? How kinky."
"Squid are instinctively driven — they have to mate. They have these
72-hour sex marathons. Each has 10 arms and tentacles — hey, that's
more positions than the Kama Sutra. When they're through, they're so
exhausted the fishermen just pick 'em up off the surface of the sea."
[End excerpt]

On Tue, Jun 28, 2016 at 5:14 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 28, 2016 at 4:52 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> > On Jun 28, 2016, at 4:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> > I heard this once before, most likely on _Veep_, as "has got more
>> > positions than the Kama Sutra."
>> >
>> > Now apparently defunct,
>>
>> On hiatus, I believe.  Not at all defunct.  (Those with premium cable are
>> in a better position to weigh in on this.)
>>
>
> Last Sunday was the finale of Season 5 -- we'll have to wait until next
> year for Season 6. Plenty of time to catch up and log all the colorful
> vulgarities.
>
> I don't recall the Kama Sutra line getting used on "Veep," but Mike
> Huckabee reportedly said it about Mitt Romney in 2008, according to the
> pundit Mark Shields a few years later:
>
> https://archive.org/details/KQED_20110904_220000_Inside_Washington#start/1020/end/1080
> http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/noel-sheppard/2011/09/03/mark-shields-romney-has-more-positions-kama-sutra
>
>  --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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


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