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Owl Hockey

Posted by ESC on October 23, 2002

In Reply to: Owl Hockey posted by Donald Lowery on October 23, 2002

: : : : : : : Where did this come from?

: : : : : : I believe I'm on safe ground to say the phrase "slicker than owl hockey" is actually a cleaned up version of "slicker than owl sh*t." "Hockey" is a euphemism for excrement says the "Wordsworth Book of Euphemism" by Judith S. Neaman and Carole G. Silver (Wordsworth Editions, Hertfordshire, 1995). As in "bull hockey." It's believed that "hockey" used in this way dates back to the 1960s. "William Styron referred to 'great blooping hunks of dog hocky.'.Hocky is also used to refer to semen."

: : : : : ...all of which is very educational, but begs the massive question, why owls? I doubt if anyone has ever decided to measure the relative viscosity of the excrement of different species, so why are owls chosen as the archetype of the Teflon dropping? Is there a f(a)ecologist (coprologist? scatologist?) in the house?

: : : : No coprologist, I, but I can report that I have heard "slicker than deer guts on a doorknob." That's *heard,* not felt.

: : :
: : : As far as I know, owl hockey isn't particularly known for being slick. Owls, like snakes swallow their prey whole and then deposit pellets that contain the entire skeleton of the creature ingested. I have seen documentaries where the pellet was left to soak in water until only the intact skeleton of a mouse remained. Perhaps the pellets might make good pucks?

: : : I may not be able to spell, but by God, I know something about owl hockey!

: : Good God! I enjoyed your contributions. My old Grandfather James Hershal Lewis (we called him "PA", God rest his soul) would always grunt that phrase... "Slickern Owl Hocky", everytime he drove his old Model "T" down a fresh rain-soaked street, especially when the street had an oil-based surface. It was passed on for three generations, but has now died out as a "saying" in the family cadre of sayings. I plan to use it someday in one of my books, particularly since you have given me the confidence to use it. Where PA got it I don't know at the moment. He lived from 1898 to 1974.

:
: Oh, by the way, I found out more info on the "hockey puck" that the writer above put in so nicely, i.e. about soaking the pellet and revealing the skeleton. Well, as it turns out, that is precisely the reason why Owl Hocky is slicker than all else...The fluids that are interior and exterior to the pellet are very very condensed super-slick fluids.
: Thanks again, Donald

Thank you for sharing.

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