Phrase Origin: "Haul Ass"

Here in the deep south it’s slang for having to get somewhere quickly, but an old acquaintance once told me the phrase orginated as something else entirely: “Haul ice!”

According to this guy, back in the days before we had refrigerators, people kept ice boxes and the ice delivery guy would come down the street with his horse and wagon and folks would call down their order to him (“One block…two blocks” etc).

Sometimes, he said, the folks ordering their ice lived on the top floor of their building, necessitating a fast trip by the ice man on a hot day, so that they would be sure to get their money’s worth. Hence the term, “I gotta haul ice!”

I have always thought “Man, if this ain’t true, then it oughta be”, 'cause it has sure enough gotten me more than one free beer over the years.

So I’m appealing to you phraseologists: IS this a true representation of the origin of this phrase or was my friend (may he rest in peace) full of shit? :slight_smile:

Thanks

Quasi

Sounds to me like hey was pulling your leg. I have never heard “Gotta haul ice” before in that context. When I tried to search for the phrase, very little turned up. Nothing was in the right context. I think “Haul ass” is the term that you are looking for but that didn’t show up in the post.

I vote “folk etymology.” I originally saw the construction as “I/you/they have got to haul my/your/their ass out of there.” and later saw it shortened “I/he hauled ass.”

Had “haul ice” been the original expression, I would not expect to find the phrase as I first heard it, since simply to “haul ass” would have been sufficient.

“Haul ass,” “haul balls” and “hook nookie” all seem, to me, to impart conveying vital and favored parts of one’s anatomy from one place to another with all due haste. I can easily see the creation of those phrases occurring in the absence of ice delivery.

But what do I know? Without a cite to the contrary, I’d believe the phrase(s) grew up solely based on the need express an urgent movement of one’s physical being without any reference to ice. How did one say what the current expressions do before there were icemen?

Even as I feel my post’s ass being “hauled” off to IMHO, that’s a beautiful story ain’t it?

Wherever it came from, someone cared enough to fashion a UL out of it before there were names for UL’s, and I have drunk free off it for many a year!

I’m gonna write the sumbitch down, seal it in a baggy and put it in my sea chest! :wink:

Quasi

PS: I realize I may have broken many a grammatical error during this post, but I am in my Popeye-Speak mode, so perhaps I may be forgiven?

Jesus! Did I really write that??? It musta been way beyond my bed-time if I ventured into Yogi Berra territory like that! :smiley:

Quasi

Having one’s “ashes hauled”. A phrase meaning what? Getting laid? :wink:

I know, I know… asked and answered. Just can’t let it go… :smiley:

Quasi

::sigh::

Haul-ass meaning to flee or depart in a hurry appears first in print in 1918. Haul tail appears about the same time in 1924.

Having your ashes hauled first appeared in 1906, and, indeed meant to get laid. Also getting your ashes dragged.

The haul ice is just crap.

What I want to know is how exactly did you get free beer out of this? I am partial to the odd beverage myself - it would be great to have a way to get it for free.