Awkward Moments in Vintage Books: Make me Laugh

[Hunter]

Post your favorite awkward passages in a vintage book.

 

Chamber's Primer uses the word a$$ quite a few times in the first few lessons, and although it wasn't funny then, it is now.

http://books.google.com/books?id=_8wDAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22chamber's+primer&source=gbs_navlinks_s

[nannyaunt]

In the Dick and Jane book.  There is a line "Big, big Dick."  My 4 yr. old nephew reads that and I have to turn my head so he doesn't see me laugh.  

 

The boy down the street wouldn't let me teach him to read with that book.  He said his mother would be mad at him.

[Jackie]

We just finished Betsy-Tacy. Near the beginning, Betsy is getting dressed to go outside and puts on a "pussy hood". DD asked what that was and we went to trusty google to look it up. Fortunately, I still skim search results far faster than her, closed the tab, and said that Google had no idea what a pussy hood was.

[Mrs. Y]

Oh.my.word! I am blushing and laughing at the same time right now and my dc keep asking me to tell them what's so funny!

[idnib]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

[alisoncooks]

In the Dick and Jane book.  There is a line "Big, big Dick."  My 4 yr. old nephew reads that and I have to turn my head so he doesn't see me laugh.  

 

The boy down the street wouldn't let me teach him to read with that book.  He said his mother would be mad at him.

 

I always snicker in Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle when the selfish boy, Dick, is being taunted by his friends: "Dick's -- don't touch! Don't touch Dick."

(My kids love this book, we listen to it on audiobook nearly every long car trip we make -- so luckily my immature giggling is in the front seat and unseen by the kiddos. :D)

[73349]

The Blue Castle opens with a reference to how many lovers Valancy has had (meaning beaux).

[Rebel Yell]

I could *NOT* read "Five Little Peppers" because everybody was always ej@culating. :svengo: No matter how grown-up I try to be, I just can't deal with some of the older books. :glare:

[...................]

Lol!!! We had the same problem with the ej

Word. My very pedantic son was using it at age 7, and thought it was such a cool big word and I completely forbid the use of it.

[Hunter]

Thank you everyone! I needed some laughs this afternoon, and I knew this would be funny.

[Sherry in OH]

I have a hard time keeping a straight face through the Owl’s song in Lear’s The Owl and Pussy Cat.  

[Ewe Mama]

:lol:

[Twigs]

:smilielol5:  :smilielol5:  :smilielol5:

[aggieamy]

In Agatha Christie books Miss Marple is frequently refered to as a nice old p*ssy.  

 

:huh:

 

Everytime I read that word I'm taken out of the story because I'm always shocked by it's modern usage.  

[Reefgazer]

My kids and I had such a laugh at dinner the other night over the origins of the word "ass" and how "ass" used to mean a donkey/fool and now means a human backside, and how it got to be so.  I learned that the transition from ass=donkey to ass=backside can be blamed on a Shakespeare character whose last name was "Bottom".  Go figure.

Post your favorite awkward passages in a vintage book.

 

Chamber's Primer uses the word a$$ quite a few times in the first few lessons, and although it wasn't funny then, it is now.

http://books.google.com/books?id=_8wDAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22chamber's+primer&source=gbs_navlinks_s

 

[Reefgazer]

R+S English 3 has a poem about a pussy; that is, a cat.  I was barely able to keep a straight face when DS did that lesson.

We just finished Betsy-Tacy. Near the beginning, Betsy is getting dressed to go outside and puts on a "pussy hood". DD asked what that was and we went to trusty google to look it up. Fortunately, I still skim search results far faster than her, closed the tab, and said that Google had no idea what a pussy hood was.

 

[IsabelC]

My kids and I had such a laugh at dinner the other night over the origins of the word "ass" and how "ass" used to mean a donkey/fool and now means a human backside, and how it got to be so.  I learned that the transition from ass=donkey to ass=backside can be blamed on a Shakespeare character whose last name was "Bottom".  Go figure.

 

Really? I have honestly always thought it was just because Americans don't know how to say/spell arse? Because here, ass still means donkey and isn't a coarse word. And Bottom the Weaver is an English character, so why would it be only in the US - and not in the UK - that the word transitioned?

 

 

Re that other word - I understand that Watson in the Sherlock Holmes stories set some kind of literary ejaculating record (presumably because he is constantly being astonished by the guru's sleuthing brilliance).

 

 

Yesterday in our read aloud, several of the characters were engaged in "willy wetting", which sounded very dodgy. I had never heard this phrase but apparently it involves licking one's finger and inserting said finger into somebody else's ear. I omitted to mention it, because I really don't want to get the kids started on something icky and irritating that they don't already do.

[Korrale]

I remember reading an American book and it mentioned the dad giving the kids a swat on the fanny. Now that means girl parts in Australia! And much more inappropriate.

I don't think pu(ss)y is used as widely in America as it is in Australia. My mum says pussy cat to my American son.

 

Oh and willy wetting or wet Willy's don't sound nearly so dirty in the US because willy isn't often referred to as a boy part.

 

Oh and I also discovered that American's do not know what cock horses are. As in ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross.

[Grover]

ohhh I vividly offering "ejaculated" as an option for our "instead of said" poster when I was about seven.  The teacher was Mrs Devonshire, and she was an extremely proper lady.  She turned purple, then had the most terrible coughing fit (Catholic school).  She then moved onto someone else and didn't write my suggestion up.  I was very upset, and decided she hated me.  When she saw I was upset she asked why and then she had another coughing fit.  And still refused to use the word, and wouldn't tell me why.  Then I asked my mother when I got home, who also wouldn't tell me, just told me I mustn't use it.  So next day at school I looked it up in the dictionary at school, but it wasn't there, so I asked my teacher why some words aren't in the dictionary.  She asked which word.  I told her.  She spluttered some more and then told me I must have the wrong word because that wasn't a nice word, and would I stop using it, please.  I got out my book and showed her where it was used in a completely not-not nice way.  She refused to look or acknowledge me any further on the subject.  Whole class was bewildered.  I got upset, she sent me to the principal.  I thought YAY FINALLY SOMEONE WILL ANSWER MY QUESTION.  He spluttered, scowled, called my parents in.  It was there, in the principals office, with both of my parents, believing I was about to be expelled or worse, my sister hovering out in the office, also believing I must have murdered someone to be in so much trouble, that I found out what a penis is for. 

 

Scarred. For. Life.

 

Ok, so I can laugh about it now, but then.  UGH!!!!!

 

Oh... I was also forbidden to tell the other children, so got many strange looks. 

[SorrelZG]

I was trying to think of something I can only vaguely recall from a vintage math book but all this talk reminded me of an awkward line in H. G. Well's War of the Worlds which caused me some momentary horror and confusion:

 

"He heard footsteps running to and fro in the rooms, and up and down stairs behind him. His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in dressing gown and shawl; her husband followed ejaculating."

 

 

**edited to add: I have to confess that I actually used the word today when addressing my children over their habit of ejaculating their requests and thoughts without any consideration for conversations already going on (huge problem here--I seem to be the only person who can hear voices besides my own). After reading this thread I'm making a mental note to not use the term in mixed company, regardless of how clear I consider the context, and to perhaps find myself a synonym for the sake of the children who assimilate my vocabulary. :closedeyes:

[Rosie_0801]

Nothing like the above frightfulness, but a darling Librivox download, 'Fairy Tales of Science,' assured me today that electricity wouldn't be replacing steam power.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

In Swallows and Amazons, there is a main character named Titty.  My mom was reading the book to my son and she just couldn't manage it.  She decided to pronounce it tight-y to save herself the embarrassment.  Goes right over my kids' heads. 

 

 

[Hunter]

ohhh I vividly offering "ejaculated" as an option for our "instead of said" poster when I was about seven.  The teacher was Mrs Devonshire, and she was an extremely proper lady.  She turned purple, then had the most terrible coughing fit (Catholic school).  She then moved onto someone else and didn't write my suggestion up.  I was very upset, and decided she hated me.  When she saw I was upset she asked why and then she had another coughing fit.  And still refused to use the word, and wouldn't tell me why.  Then I asked my mother when I got home, who also wouldn't tell me, just told me I mustn't use it.  So next day at school I looked it up in the dictionary at school, but it wasn't there, so I asked my teacher why some words aren't in the dictionary.  She asked which word.  I told her.  She spluttered some more and then told me I must have the wrong word because that wasn't a nice word, and would I stop using it, please.  I got out my book and showed her where it was used in a completely not-not nice way.  She refused to look or acknowledge me any further on the subject.  Whole class was bewildered.  I got upset, she sent me to the principal.  I thought YAY FINALLY SOMEONE WILL ANSWER MY QUESTION.  He spluttered, scowled, called my parents in.  It was there, in the principals office, with both of my parents, believing I was about to be expelled or worse, my sister hovering out in the office, also believing I must have murdered someone to be in so much trouble, that I found out what a penis is for. 

 

Scarred. For. Life.

 

Ok, so I can laugh about it now, but then.  UGH!!!!!

 

Oh... I was also forbidden to tell the other children, so got many strange looks. 

 

I was trying not to single anyone out as being extra funny, but THIS, especially the way you TELL it is hysterical! I just read it to a friend who is still chuckling.

[Deee]

We had a bit of a public stink in Australia last month when Aldi sold a number of children's picture books as their weekly special. Unfortunately, one of the books was Roald Dahl's version of Cinderella, which anyone with half a brain can see is a spoof and not for little kids. The book uses the word "slut" in the very British context of slatternly housekeeper - no mention is made of Cinder's sexual proclivities. Aldi copped a pasting, as did poor Roald Dahl, and the book was hastily withdrawn amid threats of boycott.

 

I'm now going to spend all day tomorrow trying not to say 'ejaculating'

D

[...................]

Swallows and Amazons forever except for god's sake why Titty?

 

Its so unnerving and also it does not go.  John Susan and Roger are all so plain that I have a hard time buying that this family named one child Letitia.

I changed her name to Tilly while reading it aloud...then the book was so darn boring, I gave up on it and my son, then about 9, wanted to finish it.  He said, "Mom her name is Titty!" But he was old enough to know htat I wouldn't edit every single mention of someone's name, so then he goes, "What's a titty?" and I said, never mind, just don't say it aloud, but then this went on and on....until my husband finally got home, and I just blurted out what a Titty actually is, and the whole family was shocked.

 

I mean, I agree.  This is Susan, Jim and... Letitia, but we can her Titty???

[...................]

We had a bit of a public stink in Australia last month when Aldi sold a number of children's picture books as their weekly special. Unfortunately, one of the books was Roald Dahl's version of Cinderella, which anyone with half a brain can see is a spoof and not for little kids. The book uses the word "slut" in the very British context of slatternly housekeeper - no mention is made of Cinder's sexual proclivities. Aldi copped a pasting, as did poor Roald Dahl, and the book was hastily withdrawn amid threats of boycott.

 

I'm now going to spend all day tomorrow trying not to say 'ejaculating'

D

 

While we are discussing word usage, What in the world does "copped a pasting" mean?  Apparently that's an Aussie phrase.  :)

[Rosie_0801]

While we are discussing word usage, What in the world does "copped a pasting" mean?  Apparently that's an Aussie phrase.   :)

 

I've never heard that phrase before, but copping something means being on the receiving end, usually of something you don't want.

[Cascadia]

Just this morning I finally explained to DD that "panty" in 21st century America refers to girl underwear, because she and DS have been repeating the lines from "Five Children and It" where the baby keeps calling the oldest girl "Panty."  I've asked her not to say those parts of the book outside the house.

 

I had "Swallows and Amazons" on our list for a few years down the road, but now I'm seriously reconsidering... :huh:  

[...................]

ohhh I vividly offering "ejaculated" as an option for our "instead of said" poster when I was about seven.  The teacher was Mrs Devonshire, and she was an extremely proper lady.  She turned purple, then had the most terrible coughing fit (Catholic school).  She then moved onto someone else and didn't write my suggestion up.  I was very upset, and decided she hated me.  When she saw I was upset she asked why and then she had another coughing fit.  And still refused to use the word, and wouldn't tell me why.  Then I asked my mother when I got home, who also wouldn't tell me, just told me I mustn't use it.  So next day at school I looked it up in the dictionary at school, but it wasn't there, so I asked my teacher why some words aren't in the dictionary.  She asked which word.  I told her.  She spluttered some more and then told me I must have the wrong word because that wasn't a nice word, and would I stop using it, please.  I got out my book and showed her where it was used in a completely not-not nice way.  She refused to look or acknowledge me any further on the subject.  Whole class was bewildered.  I got upset, she sent me to the principal.  I thought YAY FINALLY SOMEONE WILL ANSWER MY QUESTION.  He spluttered, scowled, called my parents in.  It was there, in the principals office, with both of my parents, believing I was about to be expelled or worse, my sister hovering out in the office, also believing I must have murdered someone to be in so much trouble, that I found out what a penis is for. 

 

Scarred. For. Life.

 

Ok, so I can laugh about it now, but then.  UGH!!!!!

 

Oh... I was also forbidden to tell the other children, so got many strange looks. 

what a terrible mishandling of the situation!  I just explained to my son that words change meaning over time and that a perfectly reasonable word 100 years ago, has somehow changed meaning.  THat now, it means something else and it's not a word for children to use in public.  I further explained that I would tell him when he gets older, because to tell him now, he would be more confused.  If your teacher had just explained that, I think your curiosity would have been satisfied enough that you may have dropped it.  Seriously, what a disaster.  LOL  

[JustEm]

I like that Ray's Arithmetic talks about buying opiates at the store and asking you how long it takes someone to finish a keg of beer by themselves.

[Korrale]

While we are discussing word usage, What in the world does "copped a pasting" mean? Apparently that's an Aussie phrase. :)

Probably used more in QLD. it means being given a lot of flack, or taking a beating. Usuallg when there is bad press about something they are copping a pasting. Or if someone is getting beaten in a sport.

[kirstenhill]

We're in the middle of Swallows and Amazons as an audio book.  We like it, but I am glad that no one has seen me cracking a smile over Titty's name.

 

:lol:  

 

 

[Aurelia]

I can't remember a specific instance, but I remember, sometime back, being struck by how gay everyone always seemed to be. I mean it seemed like "Susan was gay, and Peter laughed gaily and Marion was SO gay. They were going on a picnic to the seaside! When they got home, they couldn't wait to tell Mummy what a gay day they had had!" in every single story. I ended up substituting words like "fun" and "happy," just to add variety.

[rose]

My dear children are always making up songs. When they were around 7yo they made up the following rhyme and were singing it regularly:

 

Over the hills and far away

We shall be merry and we shall be gay.

 

Isn't childhood innocence beautiful? :)

[Hunter]

I've been reading this thread aloud to people and they have been enjoying it. Thanks everyone!

[Grover]

what a terrible mishandling of the situation!  I just explained to my son that words change meaning over time and that a perfectly reasonable word 100 years ago, has somehow changed meaning.  THat now, it means something else and it's not a word for children to use in public.  I further explained that I would tell him when he gets older, because to tell him now, he would be more confused.  If your teacher had just explained that, I think your curiosity would have been satisfied enough that you may have dropped it.  Seriously, what a disaster.  LOL  

exactly... it certainly didn't have to be such a drama!

[...................]

Here;s another one that I remember, my son (he was the one always reading old books off the Kindle, from Gutenberg like the Tom Swift series and many others and has Aspergers and so therefore loves words) said several times, "Is that dog a bitch or a boy?" and this one was definitely in front of people because we had no dog.  People did understand that one though.  In fact, I remember it being at our best friend's house where that one happened more than once.  Thankfully. LOL

[sassenach]

ohhh I vividly offering "ejaculated" as an option for our "instead of said" poster when I was about seven.  The teacher was Mrs Devonshire, and she was an extremely proper lady.  She turned purple, then had the most terrible coughing fit (Catholic school).  She then moved onto someone else and didn't write my suggestion up.  I was very upset, and decided she hated me.  When she saw I was upset she asked why and then she had another coughing fit.  And still refused to use the word, and wouldn't tell me why.  Then I asked my mother when I got home, who also wouldn't tell me, just told me I mustn't use it.  So next day at school I looked it up in the dictionary at school, but it wasn't there, so I asked my teacher why some words aren't in the dictionary.  She asked which word.  I told her.  She spluttered some more and then told me I must have the wrong word because that wasn't a nice word, and would I stop using it, please.  I got out my book and showed her where it was used in a completely not-not nice way.  She refused to look or acknowledge me any further on the subject.  Whole class was bewildered.  I got upset, she sent me to the principal.  I thought YAY FINALLY SOMEONE WILL ANSWER MY QUESTION.  He spluttered, scowled, called my parents in.  It was there, in the principals office, with both of my parents, believing I was about to be expelled or worse, my sister hovering out in the office, also believing I must have murdered someone to be in so much trouble, that I found out what a penis is for. 

 

Scarred. For. Life.

 

Ok, so I can laugh about it now, but then.  UGH!!!!!

 

Oh... I was also forbidden to tell the other children, so got many strange looks. 

This might be the funniest thing I've ever read on these boards. 

[Hunter]

I'm wondering what lasting effects it has on children to be so aware that language and customs have changed so profoundly. Mostly people dwell on the negatives of children hearing unfashionable and politically incorrect things in older books. I'm wondering what the benefits are, though.

 

I wonder if widely-read children are less likely to mock the language and customs and rules of any group.

 

I wonder if widely-read children are less provincial.

 

I wonder if widely-read children are more precise with word choices, and more sensitive to their audience.

 

I used to teach that the old books were "wrong" and would teach the child the "right" way. As I age, I'm becoming increasingly aware that the current customs and word choices and "facts" might be more "wrong" than the ones that make people so uncomfortable now.

 

A friend was watching a movie and I had to get up and leave because it was triggering me. The volume and intensity of the degrading vocabulary about women just overwhelmed me. But this movie is considered a multi-star movie. We are very unequal about which subgroups we will allow to be described with degrading language. We are far more tolerant of hate talk about women than we are about hate talk against a race. Sometimes people even laugh at it.

 

There are some people that act as fashion police, and really do think there are right and wrong ways to dress. And even though their rules change, the changing doesn't make the current rules any less important.

 

Does the instability of something make you question it's absoluteness? Or is how unstable something is irrelevant to it's rightness.

 

I know I'm kinda rambling and jumping between a couple different topics, but this is what my brain is tossing around tonight. I'm just really wondering what benefits children reap from reading "wrong" and "bad" books.

[Hunter]

ohhh I vividly offering "ejaculated" as an option for our "instead of said" poster when I was about seven.  The teacher was Mrs Devonshire, and she was an extremely proper lady.  She turned purple, then had the most terrible coughing fit (Catholic school).  She then moved onto someone else and didn't write my suggestion up.  I was very upset, and decided she hated me.  When she saw I was upset she asked why and then she had another coughing fit.  And still refused to use the word, and wouldn't tell me why.  Then I asked my mother when I got home, who also wouldn't tell me, just told me I mustn't use it.  So next day at school I looked it up in the dictionary at school, but it wasn't there, so I asked my teacher why some words aren't in the dictionary.  She asked which word.  I told her.  She spluttered some more and then told me I must have the wrong word because that wasn't a nice word, and would I stop using it, please.  I got out my book and showed her where it was used in a completely not-not nice way.  She refused to look or acknowledge me any further on the subject.  Whole class was bewildered.  I got upset, she sent me to the principal.  I thought YAY FINALLY SOMEONE WILL ANSWER MY QUESTION.  He spluttered, scowled, called my parents in.  It was there, in the principals office, with both of my parents, believing I was about to be expelled or worse, my sister hovering out in the office, also believing I must have murdered someone to be in so much trouble, that I found out what a penis is for. 

 

Scarred. For. Life.

 

Ok, so I can laugh about it now, but then.  UGH!!!!!

 

Oh... I was also forbidden to tell the other children, so got many strange looks. 

 

Is how we handle these books the only problem, and not the books themselves?

[Chelli]

When Grace was about 5 or 6 we'd been reading a lot of older books and poems. They almost always referred to cats as pu55ys. So we were out and about in the neighborhood one afternoon when we saw an older lady standing on her porch holding a cat. Grace yells out, "You have a beautiful pu55y!" I. almost. died. I rushed her home and from then on I always changed the word to cat whenever I was reading to her.

[Grover]

I recently read my children "The Queer Adventure".  They read a lot of other Enid Blyton too, and I collect it so they have access to the older versions that haven't been sanitised for modern language.  So Dick, Fanny (here that's a female's privates), gay (happy), queer (unusual) and yes, even ejaculated are words they meet very frequently.  Mostly I just leave it until it comes up in a contxt where I need to explain the two meanings.  Queer I had to explain to them because they've never heard it used to mean anything other than unusual so they were going to put their foot in it sooner or later, Dick I actully don't think we've ever used dick for penis so again I had to jump in there explain before someone more worldly embarrassed them.  The bigger issue we've had with older books is the 'N' word, and the overwhelming attitude that black people just weren't as smart / worthy / "real" as the white characters in the books (actually, not just black - the gypsys get a pretty hard time from EB too, and many of the older books we've read stereotype jews).  Our conversations around slavery and racism and all that goes along with that have been far more difficult than the simple "uncomfortable" words with different modern meanings. 

 

That said, I am completely incpable of reading and Dick and Jane book without entirely inappropriate intonations (Look, look, look at Dick.  Big, big Dick.  Dick goes up.  Up, up, UP goes Dick.  Dick is BIG!  Big, big Dick.)  I mean, c'mon!  (ok, I'm 12). 

[Grover]

We call our cats pussy.  As in, "Here pussy, puss, puss, good pussy" yelled out into the night or at random cats on the street.  DD really wanted her username on something to be "GoodPussy".  I said no. 

[CAmomof4]

Chaucer anyone?  The Miller's Tale?  Girl tells her weirdo suitor, who's outside her window, to close his eyes and lean in for a kiss, and then she has her young boyfriend stick his rear end out the window and the text in Old English says something like "and he letteth loose a farte that soundeth like a thunderstroke..."

 

I mean, the 14th Century!  That's awesome!

[IsabelC]

Not to mention the Wife of Bath's interesting views on marriage ;)

[Mrs. Y]

I was sorta affronted by how the character Dinah is depicted in the Bobbsey Twins books. (She is their black maid and although loved by the family is definitely stereotypified.)

[helena]

We call our cats pussy.  As in, "Here pussy, puss, puss, good pussy" yelled out into the night or at random cats on the street.  DD really wanted her username on something to be "GoodPussy".  I said no. 

Similar situation here. I finally had to tell them that it also has a  modern meaning that's kind of naughty. I still use it to address my cats though. :) 

 

Some of these posts are bringing back great memories, like the car trip with  Mrs. Piggle Wiggles "Don't touch Dick." My husband and I had the greatest quiet laugh in the front seats. 

 

Not as funny (and I think I've told this story here before), but we use a vintage dictionary sometimes and I was getting super irritated with one of the kids because they couldn't find the word computer. Eventually I realized the book was written before that technology existed.  :lol: Oops.

[Sherry in OH]

In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, ‘computers’ were people.  They cataloged and computed data.  Astronomer Annie Jump Cannon was one.  

 

Meanings change quickly. It was not long ago that ‘chick’ was a derogatory term for a woman.  I remember a poster depicting a chick (baby chicken), fox, doll (Barbie), babe (an infant), tomato, and several other images, each clearly labeled.  At the bottom of the poster was a woman, labeled, ‘and this is a woman.’

 

My children’s odd vocabularies sometimes cause comment.  They do use some antiquated works and phrasing, but more of the oddity is using British rather than standard American terminology and inflection.  The result of too much BBC via PBS and a preference for British authors, I suppose.  

 

Ds1 once called his father a silly a$$.  He meant it affectionately. Dh was acting the clown that evening.  But, you can imagine how well that went over.    

 

I am amazed that people are able to change words while reading. That doesn’t work in my house.  My children follow along while I read. Any attempts at substitution or paraphrasing are instantly corrected. 

[pitterpatter]

I don't know how my DD has managed it, but she is seven and has no concept of what a "bad word" is. We don't use profanity in our house, but there's plenty of it about, especially when we visit family. And, I am continued to be surprised how many modern children's books use expletives (i.e. "Castle Diary," "Dragon Rider"). I have definitely ran into pussy, ass, etc. plenty in our vintage texts. Since I don't say profane words on an everyday basis, it's very difficult for me to read ass in a normal tone of voice. The word just doesn't flow well coming out of my mouth. I actually have to practice ahead of time to give it the same inflection as other words I'm reading. Darn fables are full of asses. And then, our local zoo has wild asses...says so right on the exhibit sign. Blah.

[Laura Corin]

I don't want to Google too much, but has anyone any idea where the ass/arse confusion came about?  My dictionary has 'asinus', Latin for 'donkey' as the derivation for 'ass', but I believe that 'arse' is derived from the Greek (orros).  The two words are distinct in British English but not in American.  What does an American dictionary give as derivation for the 'backside' meaning of 'ass'?

 

L