Another dirty word – the ASS…
The ass is a dependable part that holds up its end of things. As the seat (19thC), it certainly knows its place.
It would be wrong, however, to think it just rests there. This is a hard-working part that quietly goes about its business at the ori- fice, functioning as the shithole (19thC), the brown bucket (20thC), the dirt road (early 20thC), and the poop-chute (20thC). However, there’s little recognition paid its work, and no more insulting a remark than being called “a fucking asshole.” Nothing personal, it’s just one person’s opinion, and as Dirty Harry Calla han (Clint Eastwood) reminded us in The Dead Pool (1988), “Opinions are like assholes; everybody has one.”
Getting Off One’s Ass
The entire experience proved so puzzling, some could no longer locate what they were looking for. They looked to the backside (16thC), the posterior (c. 1614), the rear end (c. 1920s) or the behind (described in the OED as something “in the rear of any- thing moving” or “the rear part of a person or garment”).
Not knowing where else to turn, they came up with the lower back (late 19thC). Things were now desperate. In 1912, British papers recorded news from South Africa of a certain Lord Methuen who had been wounded in the fleshy part of the thigh. Most thought this all very ass backward (or bass ackward, both 20thC), a somewhat strange expression used to describe something that’s askew or out of sync. So too with the expression itself, ass- forward being a much more accurate description of the condition.
Read Bawdy Language – http://bawdylanguage.com
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