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Yin yangs, wazoos, and expulsion

Posted by R. Berg on January 15, 2006

In Reply to: Yin yangs, wazoos, and expulsion posted by Bob on January 14, 2006

: : : : : : What is the origin of the phrase "Up the yin yang"?

: : : : : Is there such a phrase? Or did someone just make it up? For yin yang, see the Wikipedia (online) s.v. Yin and yang. I can't really imagine "up the yin yang" being used in any was except as a substitute for "up yours." It would be most appropriate, of course, coming from someone who was tired of high-toned discussions of Asian philosophy, so much so that he said something like, "Stick it up your yin yang." SS

: : : : Yes Smokey, there is such a phrase and but it's not used in place of "up yours". It means "in abundance", and it's so popular that there are several variations. You may find a good deal on an iPod or an MP3 player from someone who's got merchandise "up" or "out" either the "yin yang" or the "ying yang", and there may be other combinations that would be generally understood to mean the same thing. But beware of paying too much, or "paying through the ying-yang"!

: : : : I don't know where to look to find the "origin" of the phrase, however.

: : : I'm glad to find there's someone who knows, in this case Brian. But I'd still like a little clarification. Could someone who is selling iPods have them in such abundance that they are "coming out his yin-yang"? SS

: : It's a fine distinction, but we wouldn't say the iPods are "coming" out of the ying-yang. They're just there, "out" the ying-yang, though if we were to examine the situation closely we'd realize that they must have started out inside the ying-yang. Most people don't examine it that closely.

: Not to put too Freudian a point on it, but great abundance expressed in terms of expulsion (he's got money out the wazoo, she's got iPods out the ying-yang) are a reflection of an anal perspective on excess. He's got so much money, we are actually saying, that it's like he produces it internally, and dumps it out. He doesn't respect it more than a b.m. (There's a tinge of he-didn't-earn-it jealousy in there too.)

Something like "filthy rich."

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