[Ads-l] "smacked-ass"/"face like a smacked arse"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Entirely new to me and HDAS (except for the Brit. "face like a smacked
arse").

JL

On Thu, Feb 8, 2018 at 6:10 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Newspapers.com has some matches. The first seems to be this article
> from 1971. Here is some metadata and a link to a clipping.
>
> Date: June 23, 1971
> Publication: Philadelphia Daily News
> Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
> Article: Sports and the man
> Author: Tom Fox
> Quote Page 2
> Database; Newspapers.com
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/17275162/phrase_smackedass/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> I had trouble my first year in high school. I was 13 and a real
> smacked ass. I knew all the answers. I was so smart when I was 13 I
> flunked everything but gym and expression.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 8, 2018 at 4:31 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> > I’ve never heard this, although I visit Philadelphia every month or
> two.  However, those visits are not particularly productive in terms of
> either slang or insults.
> >
> > Newsbank has 18 examples dating back to 1991.  Most examples are from
> Philadelphia, and all examples before 2010 are from southeast Pennsylvania
> or southern New Jersey.  An article discussing Phillyspeak in the
> Philadelphia Inquirer, 8/26/2005:  “Smacked ass. Peculiarly Philadelphian,
> this refers to a person, generally male, who has done something really dumb
> or foolish. "Did you see how Bobo talked to that woman?! He is such a
> smacked ass.""
> >
> > Smackass Gap, North Carolina, is probably unrelated.
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
> >
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Yagoda, Ben
> > Sent: Thursday, February 8, 2018 2:38 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: "smacked-ass"/"face like a smacked arse"
> >
> > I am looking into to the provenance of the above expressions. “Smacked
> ass,” which I first heard circa 1982, is an insult that appears to be
> limited to the Philadelphia area. To the extent I could discern the
> location of the author of every cite I could find on Google Books and other
> databases, it was Philly, for example, crime writer Lisa Scottoline, Rough
> Justice: "Then I hold a press conference where I tell the world that the
> mayor is a smacked ass.” The first Google Books citation is from a 1977
> criminology text, quoting (presumably) a criminal: "I just asked for change
> for a ten-dollar bill and felt like a real smacked-ass to myself.” The
> snippet view doesn’t allow me to search for any info on the person being
> quoted, but one of the coauthors, the late James Inciardi, was a professor
> at my institution, the University of Delaware, and may have done fieldwork
> in Philly, less than an hour away.
> >
> > Somebody used it on a bulletin board, was asked what it meant, and
> replied, “Northeastern US slang for ‘complete idiot.” Someone else
> responded, "Funny, I've never heard of that in my 30 years of existence,
> all of it in the Northeast.” Then the original poster said, "Philadelphia,
> actually. Maybe it was just my mother.” (http://boards.straightdope.
> com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=207765)
> >
> > Green’s Dictionary of Slang has no entry for the term (neither does
> DARE), but it does have “Face like a smacked arse,” defined as “a phrase
> used to describe someone who looks very depressed.” It appears to be common
> in Ireland and the North of England. Jonathon’s first cite for it is 2000
> but I found a 1987 quotation on Google Books: "Big red nose, big red face,
> just like a smacked arse.”—Cedar, by James Murphy. “Face like a smacked
> arse” has gotten quite popular, with 23 Google Books hits since 2010.
> >
> > Any guidance or information appreciated. And I’d be interested in if
> anyone outside of Philadelphia or the United Kingdom has heard it.
> >
> > Ben
> >
> >
> >
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