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Rodent's hindquarters

Posted by James Briggs on January 04, 2003

In Reply to: Rodent's hindquarters posted by Bjorn skurj on January 04, 2003

: Anybody know where the phrase "I don't give a rat's ass" comes from? A friend of mine claims to have invented it in Albany, N.Y., in the 1960s, but I have my suspicions ... Thanks in advance!

Surely this is just another example of using animals and their anatomical parts as oaths or catch phrases? In my day you used to be 'sick as a dog'. This then turned, eventually, to 'sick as a parrot' You can take almost any animal, or part thereof, and create an oath. Some last, most are very short lived.

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