Where does the phrase, "Its your turn in the barrel" come from?

[Hermann Cheruscan]

I've heard supervisors use the phrase "it's your turn in the barrel" when they are giving someone a difficult, undeserved assignment. Its almost as if they are saying "its your turn to get screwed".

Has anyone else ever heard this phrase before?

I wonder if it has anything to do with that old joke about a ships crewmembers taking turns inside the barrel, pleasuring their fellow shipmates.

[Master Wang-Ka]

That was my first thought...

[pilot141]

Unsure about the origin, but the phrase can get formalized...

While stationed in Panama (w/ the USAF) I worked in Current Operations (planning and scheduling flights ,etc). It was a three week cycle: the first two weeks planning, etc (during which time I could fly - woo-hoo!); the last week was your week "in the barrel". You were the poor sap on call for any mission that fell apart, and generally the guy who everyone called when they couldn't make something work.

In fact, whoever was running that week was called the "Barrelmaster". People from all over Central and South America would call up and ask for the "Barrelmaster". They didn't know who it was or what the term meant, but that's who they wanted to talk to. We figured out that it probably referred to "the guy who's gonna get screwed all week", but once again, it probably originated as a joke and ended up as the only way people knew how to refer to a certain job.

FWIW, it WAS a screw job!

[Mehitabel]

Well, I usually don't post stuff like this but it's a joke. I don't know the origin or whatever, I heard it in college in New England in the mid 80's.

This logger gets assigned to a remote lumber camp. He works hard and makes friends easily enough, and things are going just fine for a while. There's a bar and darts and TV and all, and plenty of ways for the guys to keep themselves amused in the long northern nights.

However, after some time goes by, there's one thing the guy wants that he can't find in the camp--sex. He mentions to his best friend there and the friend smiles and says, "You're not the first one who misses that! Come behind Cabin Six on Saturday night and I'll show you something".

The guy shows up, nervous but curious, that Saturday to see his friend standing beside a barrel, zipping up his fly. The friend smiles at him and says, "OK, just stick your cock in the barrel and you'll be happy. Go ahead, try it." The friend walks away and after some internal debate, the guy unzips, sticks himself in the barrel, and gets the best blow job he's ever had.

Next Saturday, the same thing happens. A steady stream of guys makes their way to behind Cabin Six and the new guy gets into the routine.

A couple of weeks later, the guy gets the courage to thank his friend for the tip. His friend smiles and says, "Isn't it great? You can visit every weekend. Oh, except for three weeks from now."

"Why not?"

"Because that's your turn in the barrel."

*****

OK, so you can tell from the first line the way it's going. And probably different people will have heard slightly different versions.

But it's a great joke, right up there with Meldrick Lewis' bear and the hunter.

[Mehitabel]

Actually, a shipboard one makes even more sense. But the one I got was land-based.

[phlebert]

I am pretty sure it comes from that old joke, like stated in the OP. I have heard a bazillion (roughly) variations of this, I think but the foremost in my memory takes place in hillbilly country with a sexual exchange involving a mysterious pleasure barrel. When the butt of the joke finds out the third night that it is his turn in the barrel, a catchphrase is born. At my workplace it is the nickname for the most hated task... although I must admit, I started it.

[Redboss]

Mehitabel is right, except that the version I've always known doesn't say "blowjob". It's just a sexual experience that is amazingly saisfying. Toujoursd l'amour, eh old girl?

What is really cute however, is that here in Australia, local TV shows frequently have a segment where viewers can win prizes through a kind of sweepstakes. They write in and their letters are placed in a large barrel, which is rotated and then a winning entry selected through a small trapdoor.

This is called the Barrel Segment and the attractive young woman who assists with the process is called the Barrel Girl.

But the best part of all is that viewers are often cheerfully told that if they send their letters in on time they "will go into the barrel" for chance at the prize.

And having a dirty mind, I snigger quietly.

"Bad luck Mrs Dawson, but you'll be going back into the barrel for a chance at the car next week.."

Redboss

[Mehitabel]

[quote]Originally posted by Redboss
[b]Mehitabel is right, except that the version I've always known doesn't say "blowjob". It's just a sexual experience that is amazingly saisfying. Toujoursd l'amour, eh old girl?



In my defense, it was an all-women's college.

[RM Mentock]

Originally posted by Redboss
But the best part of all is that viewers are often cheerfully told that if they send their letters in on time they "will go into the barrel" for chance at the prize.

And having a dirty mind, I snigger quietly.

They wrote that program just for us

[mrcrow]

perhaps blondin said this to the prince of wales
or was it the wheelbarrow?