[Ads-l] off topic: nose buttering

[Wilson Gray]

> spanked the birthday person

I'm familiar with that. "And one [extra spank] to grow on!"

On Sat, Jul 27, 2019 at 7:48 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
wrote:

> According to
> http://mentalfloss.com/article/52335/7-birthday-traditions-around-world <
> http://mentalfloss.com/article/52335/7-birthday-traditions-around-world>
> and http://www.atlanticcoastentertainment.com/birthday_traditions.htm <
> http://www.atlanticcoastentertainment.com/birthday_traditions.htm>,
> greasing the nose of a person having a birthday is a tradition on the
> Atlantic side of Canada.
>
>
> http://thewheelanddistaff.blogspot.com/2011/08/getting-your-nose-buttered.html
> <
> http://thewheelanddistaff.blogspot.com/2011/08/getting-your-nose-buttered.html>
> says that Floyd, Patrick and Carrolls counties of Virginia have this
> tradition, and there are comments saying it happens in Kentucky, Rhode
> Island and West Virginia, among other locations. There are more locations
> at
> http://www.ichblog.ca/2012/09/butter-on-your-nose-slippery-birthday.html <
> http://www.ichblog.ca/2012/09/butter-on-your-nose-slippery-birthday.html>.
> Here’s a book (https://tinyurl.com/y6qn9fwa <https://tinyurl.com/y6qn9fwa>)
> saying it exists in St. Louis, Missouri. Very scattered.
>
> As per
> https://www.plaidforwomen.com/read-post/butter-your-nose-its-tradition/ <
> https://www.plaidforwomen.com/read-post/butter-your-nose-its-tradition/>,
> it is said to be for good luck as the grease causes bad luck to slide off
> your nose.
>
> I have ancestors who lived more than 100 years in the Atlantic states of
> Canada and they didn’t pass that tradition down, but my more recent
> ancestors from the Virginias did (they also spanked the birthday person and
> threw them under the bed). We still practice nose-buttering to this day.
>
> I can’t find any evidence on Google to tie this to an Old Country. Does
> anyone have any idea where this custom might come form?
>
> Benjamin Barrett (he/him/his)
> Formerly of Seattle, WA
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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