[Ads-l] _on the bone_ in the UD

[Wilson Gray]

> Go figure.

Indeed. And, once you become accustomed to the "dirty" interpretation, you
find yourself wondering how the heck there was ever a "clean" reading.

On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 3:24 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Oddly, that was roughly my experience too.
>
> In the '80s or '90s, when I innocently used the phrase "pulled a boner"
> before a class of freshmen, you can imagine the reaction. The point is,
> none of them had ever heard the innocent interpretation.
>
> Go figure.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Mar 6, 2018 at 2:18 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > "Having an erect penis; having a boner; having a hard on; being on hard"
> > November 23, 2006
> >
> > From time to time, I look to see whether some random slang that I know
> has
> > been documented somewhere or other. In this case, I have found the
> _exact_
> > definition in, of all places, the Urban Dictionary. And note that "hard
> on"
> > is spelled out as two words and that the phrase, "on hard," also occurs.
> > It's "like a letter from home," to coin a phrase.
> >
> > I became familiar with "on the bone" ca. 1947, "hard on" and "on hard"
> ca.
> > 1943, though the latter two phrases probably can be dated to the
> Creation.
> > Oddly, I never heard "boner" - except in the meaning, "egregious error" -
> > till 1969.
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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