 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006Jackarse
The English and Australian slang for buttocks is arse. The American equivalent is a.s. Australian teenagers say "arse" but spell it "a.s", because they get all their culture from TV and the Internet. There is an American movie called "Jackass". A jackass is a male donkey. I think the producers of the film know this. Australian teenagers are pronouncing this film as "Jackarse", because they do not know that "a.s" means "donkey", and somehow have concluded that "Jackass" means "Jack with buttocks" or something. There is a conclusion in this somewhere. Does anybody know what it is? >The English and Australian slang for buttocks is arse. > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >There is a conclusion in this somewhere. Does anybody know what it is? Jack is a synonym for arse So a jackarse is a bumbutt, or an anusfundament.  SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk > There is a conclusion in this somewhere. Does anybody know what it is? All things come to an end down under (???) Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego The Reg Ritter entity posted thusly: >The English and Australian slang for buttocks is arse. > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > >There is a conclusion in this somewhere. Does anybody know what it is? Yes. THere is, however, one I don't know. A male sheep is a ram. A donkey is an a.s. So, why is a ram in the a.s called a goose? > A male sheep is a ram. > A donkey is an a.s. > So, why is a ram in the a.s called a goose? That's a tricky one. Time for a gander in the dictionary. SignaturePeter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org Please note the changed e-mail and web addresses. The domain eepjm.newcastle.edu.au no longer exists, and I can no longer receive mail at my newcastle.edu.au addresses. The optusnet address could disappear at any time. > The English and Australian slang for buttocks is arse. > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > A jackass is a male donkey. I think the producers of the film know > this. Jacks and jennies are donkeys, yes. For some reason, in the US the person who acts very stupidly is said to be or to act like an a.s. But donkeys are quite intelligent, though sometimes independent little animals. I think the US usage to call someone stupid (or an a.s) is simply a euphemism for the cruder reference to the human buttocks, or even the anus--a.shole. > Australian teenagers are pronouncing this film as "Jackarse", because > they do not know that "a.s" means "donkey", and somehow have concluded > that "Jackass" means "Jack with buttocks" or something. Is it possible that the Australian teens are making a kind of slangy pun out of the name? Or am I mistaken in thinking that the "laughing jackass (kookaburra, right?)" is a bird in Australia? Isn't it named because its call resembles the donkey's neigh--well, hee-haw? How do those same teens pronounce that slang name? > There is a conclusion in this somewhere. Does anybody know what it > is? Conclusion to what? > Is it possible that the Australian teens are making a kind of slangy pun > out of the name? Or am I mistaken in thinking that the "laughing > jackass (kookaburra, right?)" is a bird in Australia? Isn't it named > because its call resembles the donkey's neigh--well, hee-haw? I don't believe any Australian of any age would call a kookaburra a laughing jackass. When they steal the kids' sandwiches right out of their hands, they certainly get called names, but jackass isn't on the list. SignatureRob Bannister > > Is it possible that the Australian teens are making a kind of slangy pun > > out of the name? Or am I mistaken in thinking that the "laughing [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > laughing jackass. When they steal the kids' sandwiches right out of > their hands, I'm sure that doesn't include hamburgers > they certainly get called names, but jackass isn't on the list. >> Is it possible that the Australian teens are making a kind of slangy >> pun out of the name? Or am I mistaken in thinking that the "laughing [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > their hands, they certainly get called names, but jackass isn't on the > list. Well, one of these defs says it is "dated", and a couple of them indicate that there is an extinct NZ owl known as a "laughing jackass" (in addition to the kookaburra, that is). Rhymezone noun: almost extinct owl of New Zealand noun: Australian kingfisher having a loud cackling cry Encarta laugh·ing jack·a.s (plural laugh·ing jack·a.s·es) Definition: birds ( dated ) Same as kookaburra Ask Oxford.com (COED) laughing jackass Austral. the kookaburra. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=laughing+jackass&r=66 This source has 4 refs, repeating the kookaburra and the NZ owl. But it could be the kids don't call it that. (Must really be dated, I mean.) > Is it possible that the Australian teens are making a kind of slangy pun > out of the name? No. They think they are pronouncing it correctly. Or am I mistaken in thinking that the "laughing > jackass (kookaburra, right?)" is a bird in Australia? Isn't it named > because its call resembles the donkey's neigh--well, hee-haw? I have never heard it called anything other than a kookaburra. > Is it possible that the Australian teens are making a kind of slangy > pun out of the name? Or am I mistaken in thinking that the "laughing > jackass (kookaburra, right?)" is a bird in Australia? Isn't it > named because its call resembles the donkey's neigh--well, hee-haw? > > How do those same teens pronounce that slang name? They wouldn't know it. It was old-fashioned slang 50 years ago, and has pretty much disappeared by now. When the first whites came to Australia they were puzzled and sometimes terrified by the unfamiliar noises they heard in the bush, so they tried to relate them to something they knew. Sometimes this took a bit of a stretch. Those of us who grew up in the country perceive very little in common between the hee-haw of an a.s and the hoo-hoo-ha-ha of a kookaburra. It was said in my youth that Italian immigrants called kookaburras "ha-ha pigeons" because they tasted like pigeon. I've never seen anything to indicate that Italians eat either bird. SignaturePeter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org Please note the changed e-mail and web addresses. The domain eepjm.newcastle.edu.au no longer exists, and I can no longer receive mail at my newcastle.edu.au addresses. The optusnet address could disappear at any time. > It was said in my youth that Italian immigrants called kookaburras > "ha-ha pigeons" because they tasted like pigeon. I've never seen > anything to indicate that Italians eat either bird. Italian cookery has a recipe for pretty much anything that has feathers. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. > Is it possible that the Australian teens are making a kind of slangy pun > out of the name? Or am I mistaken in thinking that the "laughing > jackass (kookaburra, right?)" is a bird in Australia? Isn't it named > because its call resembles the donkey's neigh--well, hee-haw? You're only mistaken in the sound of the call. It sounds nothing like a donkey. It's closer to a hysterical, falsetto, human laugh. You may or may not know that in several of the Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies / Loony Tunes cartoons, a recording of the Kookaburra was played when the protagonist was creeping through the jungle. (And not just in the Tasmanian Devil cartoons). The Warner Bros. people probably just called it the 'exotic-jungle-creature-noise'. I think its been used in a lot of B movies as well, for the same purpose. I have read that in New York, the Kookaburra's laugh is used as a 'reversing-truck-warning-noise', presumably because a plain 'beep-beep' no longer consciously registers. Stupot |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.