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Bet your...

Posted by ESC on August 06, 2000

In Reply to: Bet Your Bootie - or - Bet Your Sweet Little Bootie - or Bet Your Little Bootie posted by Stacie on August 06, 2000

: I would like to find the meaning of the phrase(s) in the subject line and origination, if possible. Thank you!

BET YOUR . - "Bet your bottom dollar" probably is the parent phrase (a term I think I just coined or maybe I just gleaned it from my reading). Anyway, "bet your bottom dollar" dates back to the 1850s and refers to betting the last dollar at the bottom of one's pocket or purse, according to Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1982). There is a different explanation in a second reference. "The expression comes from poker, where the chips, or 'dollars' are stacked and one takes chips from the top of the pile in betting, betting one's bottom dollar when he bets the entire stack," according to the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

There are several phrases beginning with "bet your." "BET v. In phrase: 'you bet(cha) without any doubt; 'yes indeed,' you may rest assured.' Often in extended phr. Of the sort 'you bet your (life, ass, boots, bottom dollar, etc.)." From the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, A-G by J.E. Lighter, Random House, New York, 1994.

I couldn't find the expression "bet your booty" even though it's pretty common. "Booty" in "bet your booty" could refer to two things. Booty means "butt" or "body." But booty also means treasure or ".items taken from the enemy in times of war." according to Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past So it could mean betting one's butt or treasure.

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