I just had a moment that made clear one of the oldest sayings I have ever heard. “He does not know his ass from a hole in the ground.” I always thought it had referred to the persons posterior. Well surprise, surprise. I found out that there is a saying “A burro is an ass and a burrow is a hole in the ground. As a writer, you are expected to know the difference.” and when I read that, the ass from hole in the ground phrase just clicked. Just thought I would share.
:eek: That…that…that makes so much sense! I’m astonished I never thought of that myself!
Thanks for sharing!
I dunno, I’ve always liked the following dialog: (It sounds best with a mock Ivy League accent.)
Jim: Gee, Bob, it could be my ass, but I’m pretty sure it’s a hole in the ground.
Bob: Why do you say that, Jim?
Jim: Well, we’re a foursome, and to date, I’ve only got two golf balls shoved up my ass.
“They knew not their holes from an ass on the ground.” (from the Book of Holes) --Firesign Theater
I’m pretty sure “ass” means posterior in the proverb (via “hole”), and the burrow/burro person is building an amusing pun on the existing proverb.
double pun
The pun comes from one of the writing style guides, perhaps the Chicago Times one? This is quoted in a book I have at home by Roy Blount Jr. where he reviews some style guides and says this is the only one with any attempt at humor.
I’m pretty sure the pun came well after the original saying.
I’m only reviving this because my wife and I were puzzling over where this came from and how it really didn’t make much sense. But the above makes some sense out of it, so color me educated.
Also, also, the phrase “couldn’t find his ass with both hands and a flashlight” is about a missing donkey!
And a topologist is someone who can’t tell his ass from a hole in the ground, but can tell his ass from two holes in the ground.
Actually, both would be “no holes in the ground” unless they were connected or passed all the way through the Earth.
The phrase goes back to the 19th century. I found a hit in an 1895 newspaper. It was a story about a man whose jack (a male donkey) could only be ridden if you jumped on him unexpectedly. One dark night he jumped but landed in a well and broke his neck. The coroner’s jury gave the verdict that “he didn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.” If a saying is the punchline of a joke, it’s already well-established
Variations on the story still appeared in the 1930s.Not until the 1970s is the phrase just a phrase with no animals involved or sexual connotations. W. H. Auden, the poet, was hired to update a translation of the Psalms in modern language but quit because “All I can say about its makers is that they may know their Hebrew very well, but, when it comes to their mother-tongue, they don’t know their arse from a hole in the ground.”
The Dictionary of American Regional Englishhas a long list under "Sayings about a person who seems to you very stupid: “He doesn’t know ________.”
His ass from a hole in the ground
His right hand from his left
Shit from Shinola
His ass from his elbow
His head from a hole in the ground
Beans from apple butter
Shit from apple butter
Shit from wild honey
Beans from a hole in the ground
His ass from first base
A. from asshole
And then I gave up with hundreds more to go.
The erudite pun given by the OP is just humor, again playing off a well-established saying. Nobody seems to know the original’s origin. It’s common both in British and American English for a couple of centuries. Using ass to indicate a stupid person goes back to Shakespeare, and offshoots of those usages are plentiful.
The fact that shit comes out a hole in one’s ass and in olden times shit was aimed at a hole in the ground is suggestive. DARE gives: doesn’t know right from left, up from down, which end is up. Not surprising that not knowing an exit from an entrance, only more colorfully, is also a saying.
And having an ass and a mouth makes all of us the topological equivalent of a doughnut, which in Spanish (to come back to the OP) is called a toro, thus a bull. So: a pie hole and an ass hole together make us bulls. This leads directly to bullshit.
Would that be A-hole or B-hole?
I’m so confused.
They’re opposite ends of your digestive tract. Many people are open to and frequently offer either one to be kissed.
I knew a man who liked to say, “He knew not shit from Shinola, and his shoes showed the strain.”
Shinola, by the way, is now a brand of watch. I don’t know if it’s still a brand of shoe polish.