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Chewed out

Posted by ESC on February 05, 2004

In Reply to: Chewed out posted by Li Yar on February 05, 2004

: : : where did the phrase "chewed my a** out" come from?

: : I don't know. But I can tell you that one reference says it dates back to 1946 and originated in the U.S. ("Oxford Dictionary of Slang" by John Ayto (Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York, 1999)

: : I'm going to guess that it refers to some drill sergeant who was chewing on a soldier like a dog chews on someone.

: "I heard that every expression ever used originated in the USA, whether in English (misnoma), Spanish (New Mexico), French (Cajuns), German & Dutch (Noo Yoirk). I am surprised that the world even existed before 1492, let alone spoke."+

: When common-place expression uses simple words in an obvious context, I think it unlikely that it took until 1946 for anybody to use it.

: + from "If I ruled the word" Chapter 2 of the collected musings of Li Yar with a forward by William Shakespeare.

The usual practice of this type of reference book is to assign a date based on the first use of the expression in print.

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