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Owl Hockey

Posted by Word Camel on October 20, 2002

In Reply to: Slicker than Owl Hockey posted by Bob on October 20, 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!

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