# Archie says his job gets "kind of butthole at times" in 1947 newspaper comic **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754 "2012-04-23T22:12:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/1 "2012-04-23T22:12:31Z")
When it’s not prime, of course. [http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=plAsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E8sEAAAAIBAJ&dq=calendar-girl&pg=4081%2C91102](http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=plAsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E8sEAAAAIBAJ&dq=calendar-girl&pg=4081%2C91102) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/2 "2012-04-23T22:16:36Z")
WTF??? I’ll have to check my Dictionary of American Slang, to see if “butthole” ever meant anything other than, you know, anus. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/3 "2012-04-23T22:21:14Z")
He means the job is _boring_. 😛 > [@Revtim](#): > > When it’s not prime, of course. > > [Herald-Journal - Google News Archive Search](http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=plAsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E8sEAAAAIBAJ&dq=calendar-girl&pg=4081%2C91102) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/4 "2012-04-23T22:28:40Z")
I thought he meant it stinks. You know, like butthole. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/5 "2012-04-23T22:32:18Z")
every butthole needs boring. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/6 "2012-04-23T22:44:23Z")
Stuff like that makes it a crime Google is going to abandon that newspaper archive of theirs. ☹ Check the editorial section in the following days to see if any blue-hairs wrote in to complain about Archie being a potty-mouth. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/7 "2012-04-23T23:08:55Z")
“Butt” has many more meanings that its most common current one. The OED gives one usage of butt-hole as a dead end. I would assume it was common 40s slang, since Bob Montana tended to keep up on it. I would expect that the bluenoses would not have thought of the connection we do. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/8 "2012-04-23T23:44:43Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Butt” has many more meanings that its most common current one. The OED gives one usage of butt-hole as a dead end. > > I would assume it was common 40s slang, since Bob Montana tended to keep up on it. I would expect that the bluenoses would not have thought of the connection we do. The usually fairly reliable [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=butthole&searchmode=none) asserts that the familiar usage dates from the 1950s. It does seem striking that “butt-hole” would pass without comment in the 1940s, after more than five hundred years of common usage of “butt” meaning “ass.” I can’t think of any synonyms for “bum” that “hole” might be appended to without sounding much too rude for publication. (Though I guess Horace Rumpole managed to squeak by… 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/9 "2012-04-23T23:55:43Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > (Though I guess Horace Rumpole managed to squeak by… 😃 ) If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a squeaky rumpole. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/10 "2012-04-24T00:11:13Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Butt” has many more meanings that its most common current one. This. A butt used to be a wine-keg and the butt hole was where you poured out the wine. Similarly, a bung was a cork and a bung hole used to be where you poured stuff out of a barrel. It was from these meanings that butt hole and bung hole became slang terms for an anus. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/11 "2012-04-24T00:11:36Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Butt” has many more meanings that its most common current one. The OED gives one usage of butt-hole as a dead end. > > I would assume it was common 40s slang, since Bob Montana tended to keep up on it. I would expect that the bluenoses would not have thought of the connection we do. I’m not sure of that at this point. This is one of the more intriguing finds. Jon Lighter wrote the book on American Slang, and he has NO listing for “butthole” to mean anything that would pass a censor in 1947. The current OED online has a single cite for “butt hole” to mean something innocent > [@](#): > > butt-hole n. a blind hole, a cul-de-sac.1905 Westm. Gaz. 3 Mar. 3/2 The old dog’s got him [sc. a badger] in a butt hole. . I assume that’s what you’re referring to, **Chuck**? I’ll run this one by the linguist list and see what turns up. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/12 "2012-04-24T00:49:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > This. A butt used to be a wine-keg and the butt hole was where you poured out the wine. Similarly, a bung was a cork and a bung hole used to be where you poured stuff out of a barrel. It was from these meanings that butt hole and bung hole became slang terms for an anus. I remember Bill Nye doing a vacuum demonstration with an oil drum. He was clearly enjoying himself sort of not-explaining to the kiddies about the bung and where he was about to put it. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/13 "2012-04-24T03:49:08Z")
The tradition continues: [http://www.newsfromme.com/2012/04/08/great-scott/](http://www.newsfromme.com/2012/04/08/great-scott/) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/14 "2012-04-24T15:29:58Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > The current OED online has a single cite for “butt hole” to mean something innocent . Tangentially, this reminds me of the time my francophone wife asked me about the line ‘our own private cul de sac’ in that Pretenders song, which she did not recognize as french. I assured her that “Mon cul et mon sac vous appartiennent.” (“My ass and my bag are all yours.” ) ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/15 "2012-04-24T16:10:56Z")
I remember in middle school we were either issued or found laying around some old health textbooks from the 1950s, or perhaps earlier. This would have been the 1970s. They seemed really ancient to us. In it, we found several teenager social-situation scenarios. Much hilarity ensued when we beheld a drawing of a guy bombing out when asking a girl for a date. After she walked away in disgust, he yelped, “What a boner I pulled!” We howled as only 14-year-olds can. I am, however, still slightly snickering at the memory. ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/16 "2012-04-24T16:24:38Z")
On the next page in that link are some really fascinating classified ads. Some things change, like the jobs specifying coloured people, and some things don’t, like the jobs asking for salespeople to work on commission. “Prefer man accustomed to making $7500 per year or more. Liberal commission. Established territory.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/17 "2012-04-24T17:07:30Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Tangentially, this reminds me of the time my francophone wife asked me about the line ‘our own private cul de sac’ in that Pretenders song, which she did not recognize as french. > > I assured her that “Mon cul et mon sac vous appartiennent.” (“My ass and my bag are all yours.” ) 😃 Wow, you call your wife “vous” instead of “tu” even when making obscene innuendos to her? Now **there’s** good old-fashioned chivalry for you. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/18 "2012-04-24T17:10:07Z")
The crossword puzzle sucks. 11x13? No theme? Majorly butthole. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/19 "2012-04-24T17:11:44Z")
Oh, that Jiggs… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754/20 "2012-04-24T17:33:52Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😃 Wow, you call your wife “vous” instead of “tu” even when making obscene innuendos to her? Now **there’s** good old-fashioned chivalry for you. But of course! Most of my French is learned from old disco tracks; that’s the convention. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/archie-says-his-job-gets-kind-of-butthole-at-times-in-1947-newspaper-comic/619754.md?page=2)