Rat in the lug

Posted by Baceseras on December 04, 2009 at 14:53

In Reply to: Rat in the lug posted by Victoria S Dennis on December 04, 2009 at 12:34:

: : My father used a phrase "rat in the lug", meaning to hit someone. I cannot find it anywhere. Do you know of it? Thanks for the help.

: I don't know about the "rat" part, but (in Britain at least) "lugs" or "lug 'oles" are ears. Did he mean specifically "hit someone over the ear"?

[The 'rat' part sounds like a dialect pronunciation of 'right' -- I've heard "Box his ears" (or "Clap 'is ears," someone says in a Dorothy Sayers novel), which if followed to the letter would mean hitting both his ears at once, making a punch sandwich of his poor head; it may be a mercy, or just more convenient,to give him a one-handed hit 'right on the ear' or 'rat in the lug.' - Bac.]