A Hair Up Their Ass

[Misty_Morning]

Yep...

Grace has never heard of that saying.

Have you?

 

[Guest]

Yep...

Grace has never heard of that saying.

Have you?

I have, but I thought it was a Wild Hare up their ass.

As in, ferocious bunny.

No?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Yep...

Grace has never heard of that saying.

Have you?

The way I understood, it was wild hair up the ass.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I have, but I thought it was a Wild Hare up their ass.

As in, ferocious bunny.

No?

Uh-uh. Ingrown hair resulting in boil of extraordinary proportions.

 

[Misty_Morning]

I have, but I thought it was a Wild Hare up their ass.

As in, ferocious bunny.

No?

That type of thang ain't allowed on lit.

 

[Guest]

Uh-uh. Ingrown hair resulting in boil of extraordinary proportions.

Bleah.

I just found this:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_10/012363.php

October 26, 2007

A WILD HERR....A crucial question from the previous post: is the proper idiom "wild hair up his butt" or "wild hare up his butt"? The latter sounds unlikely, but what do I know?

But hold on a second. I know a lot. Or at least, my auxiliary brain does. Let's check Google!

First check: "wild hair" + "ass" or "butt" returns 78,000 hits. "Wild hare" returns only 25,000 hits.

Second check: what do other people have to say? Roy Edroso is confused about the whole thing, but here is some fellow named John Dyson:

There are two expressions, wild hare and wild hair. The first refers to or compares someone or something to the natural skittishness of breeding hares in spring, especially in March (ergo Lewis Carroll's inclusion of that creature in the Mad Hatter's tea party). To have a wild hair (up one's butt) is a vulgar expression indicating an obsession or fixation of some sort. "Wild" in the first instance denotes erratic behavior like that of hares in rut. In the second instance "wild" characterizes a stray or unruly strand whose indelicate lodgment is the figurative cause of someone's perceived mania.

Disagreeing, in a typical Usnet digression from a discussion of Python programming minutiae, is James Stroud:

I think most Americans say "wild hare up your ass". We do not, in fact, say "wild hair up your ass". Many of us can testify that a hair up one's ass would be nothing terribly unusual and would go completely unnoticed under most circumstances.

[One day later:] We say "wild hare" down in Texas. I think I've heard "bug" before, but I wanted an excuse to vent about the hair v. hare issue in some of these American idioms. I guess I have a <insert idiom here> about it.

And finally, voting for "wild hair," here is word maven Doug Wilson:

The mystery here (at least to me) is how this expression came to be. Lighter gives examples only since the 1950's, but "A Wild Hare" was the title of one of the earliest Bugs Bunny cartoons, 1940 I think, and I'm sure it was a play on the above expression or at least on some conventional expression of that time. Sometimes it is said that the "wild hair" in the rude expression is an ingrown inflamed perianal hair, but this seems retrospective and bogus to me. There is/was an expression "get hared up" meaning something like "get startled" and I wonder whether this mutated into "get a hair up" which was then augmented and clarified in a rude fashion (or maybe it went the other way!). Maybe there also was once a conventional metaphor like "wild hare" = "irresponsible person" or so? Or maybe "a wild hare" = "a wild idea" [for some reason] or even "a wild run"?

Later in the same thread, Rick Kennerly presents the case for the phrase's origin in "wild hare," with references back to Chaucer and Erasmus. Other hints: The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English lists only "wild hair." As Wilson notes above, the first Bugs Bunny cartoon, "A Wild Hare," came out in 1940. The Wikipedia entry, with no source cited, says "The title is a play on 'wild hair.'" Reference.com has no entry for either term. The readers of a Chronicle of Higher Education forum voted 45% to 17% for "wild hair." Cheating a bit and going to my actual physical reference shelf, none of my four slang dictionaries has a listing for either phrase.

That's it. For now, I'm sticking with "wild hair." But it is remarkable what a fantastic timewaster Google can be, isn't it?

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Bleah.

I just found this:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_10/012363.php

October 26, 2007

A WILD HERR....A crucial question from the previous post: is the proper idiom "wild hair up his butt" or "wild hare up his butt"? The latter sounds unlikely, but what do I know?

But hold on a second. I know a lot. Or at least, my auxiliary brain does. Let's check Google!

First check: "wild hair" + "ass" or "butt" returns 78,000 hits. "Wild hare" returns only 25,000 hits.

Second check: what do other people have to say? Roy Edroso is confused about the whole thing, but here is some fellow named John Dyson:

There are two expressions, wild hare and wild hair. The first refers to or compares someone or something to the natural skittishness of breeding hares in spring, especially in March (ergo Lewis Carroll's inclusion of that creature in the Mad Hatter's tea party). To have a wild hair (up one's butt) is a vulgar expression indicating an obsession or fixation of some sort. "Wild" in the first instance denotes erratic behavior like that of hares in rut. In the second instance "wild" characterizes a stray or unruly strand whose indelicate lodgment is the figurative cause of someone's perceived mania.

Disagreeing, in a typical Usnet digression from a discussion of Python programming minutiae, is James Stroud:

I think most Americans say "wild hare up your ass". We do not, in fact, say "wild hair up your ass". Many of us can testify that a hair up one's ass would be nothing terribly unusual and would go completely unnoticed under most circumstances.

[One day later:] We say "wild hare" down in Texas. I think I've heard "bug" before, but I wanted an excuse to vent about the hair v. hare issue in some of these American idioms. I guess I have a <insert idiom here> about it.

And finally, voting for "wild hair," here is word maven Doug Wilson:

The mystery here (at least to me) is how this expression came to be. Lighter gives examples only since the 1950's, but "A Wild Hare" was the title of one of the earliest Bugs Bunny cartoons, 1940 I think, and I'm sure it was a play on the above expression or at least on some conventional expression of that time. Sometimes it is said that the "wild hair" in the rude expression is an ingrown inflamed perianal hair, but this seems retrospective and bogus to me. There is/was an expression "get hared up" meaning something like "get startled" and I wonder whether this mutated into "get a hair up" which was then augmented and clarified in a rude fashion (or maybe it went the other way!). Maybe there also was once a conventional metaphor like "wild hare" = "irresponsible person" or so? Or maybe "a wild hare" = "a wild idea" [for some reason] or even "a wild run"?

Later in the same thread, Rick Kennerly presents the case for the phrase's origin in "wild hare," with references back to Chaucer and Erasmus. Other hints: The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English lists only "wild hair." As Wilson notes above, the first Bugs Bunny cartoon, "A Wild Hare," came out in 1940. The Wikipedia entry, with no source cited, says "The title is a play on 'wild hair.'" Reference.com has no entry for either term. The readers of a Chronicle of Higher Education forum voted 45% to 17% for "wild hair." Cheating a bit and going to my actual physical reference shelf, none of my four slang dictionaries has a listing for either phrase.

That's it. For now, I'm sticking with "wild hair." But it is remarkable what a fantastic timewaster Google can be, isn't it?

Written by one who has never had one since "having a wild hair up your ass" indicates that you are a seriously foul mood such as would be brought on by the aforementioned unfortunately placed boil.

Academics, sheesh!

 

[SlickTony]

Bleah.

I just found this:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_10/012363.php

October 26, 2007

A WILD HERR....A crucial question from the previous post: is the proper idiom "wild hair up his butt" or "wild hare up his butt"? The latter sounds unlikely, but what do I know?

But hold on a second. I know a lot. Or at least, my auxiliary brain does. Let's check Google!

First check: "wild hair" + "ass" or "butt" returns 78,000 hits. "Wild hare" returns only 25,000 hits.

Second check: what do other people have to say? Roy Edroso is confused about the whole thing, but here is some fellow named John Dyson:

There are two expressions, wild hare and wild hair. The first refers to or compares someone or something to the natural skittishness of breeding hares in spring, especially in March (ergo Lewis Carroll's inclusion of that creature in the Mad Hatter's tea party). To have a wild hair (up one's butt) is a vulgar expression indicating an obsession or fixation of some sort. "Wild" in the first instance denotes erratic behavior like that of hares in rut. In the second instance "wild" characterizes a stray or unruly strand whose indelicate lodgment is the figurative cause of someone's perceived mania.

Disagreeing, in a typical Usnet digression from a discussion of Python programming minutiae, is James Stroud:

I think most Americans say "wild hare up your ass". We do not, in fact, say "wild hair up your ass". Many of us can testify that a hair up one's ass would be nothing terribly unusual and would go completely unnoticed under most circumstances.

[One day later:] We say "wild hare" down in Texas. I think I've heard "bug" before, but I wanted an excuse to vent about the hair v. hare issue in some of these American idioms. I guess I have a <insert idiom here> about it.

And finally, voting for "wild hair," here is word maven Doug Wilson:

The mystery here (at least to me) is how this expression came to be. Lighter gives examples only since the 1950's, but "A Wild Hare" was the title of one of the earliest Bugs Bunny cartoons, 1940 I think, and I'm sure it was a play on the above expression or at least on some conventional expression of that time. Sometimes it is said that the "wild hair" in the rude expression is an ingrown inflamed perianal hair, but this seems retrospective and bogus to me. There is/was an expression "get hared up" meaning something like "get startled" and I wonder whether this mutated into "get a hair up" which was then augmented and clarified in a rude fashion (or maybe it went the other way!). Maybe there also was once a conventional metaphor like "wild hare" = "irresponsible person" or so? Or maybe "a wild hare" = "a wild idea" [for some reason] or even "a wild run"?

Later in the same thread, Rick Kennerly presents the case for the phrase's origin in "wild hare," with references back to Chaucer and Erasmus. Other hints: The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English lists only "wild hair." As Wilson notes above, the first Bugs Bunny cartoon, "A Wild Hare," came out in 1940. The Wikipedia entry, with no source cited, says "The title is a play on 'wild hair.'" Reference.com has no entry for either term. The readers of a Chronicle of Higher Education forum voted 45% to 17% for "wild hair." Cheating a bit and going to my actual physical reference shelf, none of my four slang dictionaries has a listing for either phrase.

That's it. For now, I'm sticking with "wild hair." But it is remarkable what a fantastic timewaster Google can be, isn't it?

I've always understood it to be, and written, "wild hair."

 

[keeblercrumb]

I have, but I thought it was a Wild Hare up their ass.

As in, ferocious bunny.

No?

Leave you alone for a few days and this is what happens????

Uhhhhh no. But Darlin'? If you want one, I am sure we can arrange it. (Make note for Litogether III). By the the time it gets there, I am sure it will be wild... with pleasure, in your case, I am sure.

What I am not sure of is where "a hair up your ass" is derived from, (not sure I have ever seen in writing before) .... other than I am confident it does not involve rodents of any temperment.



-KC

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Leave you alone for a few days and this is what happens????

Uhhhhh no. But Darlin'? If you want one, I am sure we can arrange it. (Make note for Litogether III). By the the time it gets there, I am sure it will be wild... with pleasure, in your case, I am sure.

What I am not sure of is where "a hair up your ass" is derived from, (not sure I have ever seen in writing before) .... other than I am confident it does not involve rodents of any temperment.



-KC

Come on, KC, read the whole post! It's quite clear where the phrase comes from.

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

We say 'stick up the ass' to mean a person who is tightly wound or arrogant

 

[Misty_Morning]

We say 'stick up the ass' to mean a person who is tightly wound or arrogant

well now....folks in the south also have the phrase...."corncob up yer butt"

 

[Fallenfromgrace]

well now....folks in the south also have the phrase...."corncob up yer butt"

hehee...you've told me about that

 

[Guest]

I'm so confused.

I need some rum.

 

[Misty_Morning]

I'm so confused.

I need some rum.

Orally.....

 

[keeblercrumb]

Launch Me, Baby

Come on, KC, read the whole post! It's quite clear where the phrase comes from.

I just came back and I am not up to speed yet!!

Okay.... I read all that stuff and humbly apologize to SSS.... she can have a hare up her ass all she wants and be prefectly comfortable about it...

AND now I know from where this hare/hair has come from... and where it is going... (It's great to be alive!)

AND, Sweetone... Being of German descent, if you want a wild herr up your ass.... well.... I am here for you.... urrhh herr for you... hare for.... well YOU know what I mean!


There are some strange threads today.... Is this one of those Sun spot things?

-KC

 

[cloudy]

That's it. For now, I'm sticking with "wild hair." But it is remarkable what a fantastic timewaster Google can be, isn't it?

That's how I've always heard/used it. *shrug*

 

[TE999]

We allus uster say "A bug up his/her butt'.

Which reminds me of a humorous rejoinder when someone asks "Where is the ...
pencil, book, stapler, Jorgenson file, etc."

"If it was up your ass you'd know where it was."

This is not to be used on those who outrank you.

 

[john-the-author]

I'd always heard it as "wild hair up the ass" or (less frequently) "hair up the ass." I tend to use the expression "something crawled up his/her butt and died," which certainly communicates the same impression.

The actual thought posited by VM about a boil of enormous proportions is gross, incredibly painful to think about, and probably dead-on-balls-accurate.

(And in fact one of my b-in-laws had that problem about 2 years ago. The pain was so intense he lost 15 pounds. When they finally cleaned it out, it apparently grossed out the doctor and the nurse, which takes some doing. He felt infinitely better almost immediately. But YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCKKKKK!!!!!!!)

 

[Guest]

Um.

Bunnies. I'll stick with bunnies.

(I need to put a photo up of my bunny tan lines.)

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Um.

Bunnies. I'll stick with bunnies.

(I need to put a photo up of my bunny tan lines.)

Yes, bunny tan lines would definitely make a more pleasant subject, thank-you.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/love.gif

 

[Guest]

Yes, bunny tan lines would definitely make a more pleasant subject, thank-you.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/love.gif

Well, they're fading now, but I did do some tanning before Chicago 2. One bunny up high, another way down below.

I get a great deal of sun during the summer but it's poolside so the little tan bunnies are fading.

They'll be back again in Chicago 3.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Well, they're fading now, but I did do some tanning before Chicago 2. One bunny up high, another way down below.

I get a great deal of sun during the summer but it's poolside so the little tan bunnies are fading.

They'll be back again in Chicago 3.

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii177/1volupturary_manque/thLoveEyes.gif

 

[SeaCat]

Being prone to ingrowm hairs the description of this being an ingrown hair around the sphincter does seem plausible.

Then again being in the medical field I have seen some ingrown hairs that would make one cringe.

One of my all time favorites didn't have anything to do with my being in medicine. In fact it was when I was still in high school and dating a certain yur lady.

We had gone camping, a nice little hike of multiple miles through the wilderness. We had set up camp and had been settling in for the evening when she started complaining. She complained about a pain in her groin. I at first sttributed it to being overly shy when I watched her moving about. It was obviouse that she was in pain.

I convinced her with some difficulty to let me see the problem. After a bit of talking she did. There in the very top of her sex, where her Labia Majora met was a rather large and very inflamed lump. After a bit of inspection I could see the problem. This was an ingrown Pubic Hair. I could see the very end of the hair sticking out of the center of the abcess.

After a bit of discussion, during which she was more than embarrased she agreed to let me help her. I had her lay flat after skinning down. I grbbed a pair of tweezers and approached the problem area. I was able to grab the end of the offending hair and start pulling it out, which caused her to squirm. (It was longer than I expected.)

I startled her though. As I was pulling the offending hair out I used my free hand to squeeze around the site, which caused and incredible amount of puss to come out. We're talking that foul smelling nasty looking stuff that comes from an infection. She screamed as I did this, I'm sure it hurt. She screamed even more as I removed the hair completely and continued squeezing until blood ran freely. Then I cleaned her up.

The next morning she was able to move freely, and the next night she was able to thank me in a gentle manner.

Yes it smelled disgusting but what the hell. It was no worse than my removing an ngrown hair from the base of my balls, and I didn't have any one helping me with that one.

Cat

 

[keeblercrumb]

Rocket? No, I'm just glad to see ya!

Being prone to ingrowm hairs the description of this being an ingrown hair around the sphincter does seem plausible.

....................

Yes it smelled disgusting but what the hell. It was no worse than my removing an ngrown hair from the base of my balls, and I didn't have any one helping me with that one.

Cat

Cat.... I know you do this stuff for a living, but this is difficult to take before breakfast.... kind of a "too much information" thing....

But thanks for sharing....

-KC