Comments on: Pound (Arlo Award nominee)

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:03:32 +0000

I have to go with those who believe “pound sand” means pounding the sand under your feet with your feet, as in walk away, and the longer version came from James Dean-wannabe who thought he was being witty.

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:49:09 +0000

John Cleese, on an American talk show, refered to someone as “a right Berk.” The host asked what a Berk is. “It’s Cockney rhyming slang.” Rhyming with what? “Berkeley Hunt.”

By: CIDU Bill

CIDU Bill — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:44:05 +0000

Better yet, Padraig, right there on the opening credits each week, we saw Spike giving the British version of the “middle finger.”

By: The Bad Seed

The Bad Seed — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:27:06 +0000

Whether the short phrase or the longer version came first is inconsequential to whether the censors should have flagged the short version. Everyone knows what curse word “freaking”, “fracking”, “frigging”, and the like are pretty thinly-veiled replacements for, yet they pretty instantly skipped right into regular parlance, including prime-time TV. I remember being shocked how quickly mainstream America embraced these words, considering how close they are to the original.

By: padraig

padraig — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:49:44 +0000

The mention of “sod off” reminds me of how British characters on American TV shows often get away with expressions that aren’t allowed on BBC, like wanker and tosser, because presumably Americans don’t know what they mean. Spike on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” constantly used Brit vulgarities. I snorked at his description of the stuffy English character Giles’ life flashback: “Spot of tea, spot of tea, almost got shagged, spot of tea…”

p.s. to Buffyphiles — Spike didn’t know Giles was also Ripper. Still funny.

By: Jeff S.

Jeff S. — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:39:55 +0000

Neither my wife nor I had heard of the longer version until now. I’ve only heard the short version, which I always took to mean “piss off”.

By: Hunt

Hunt — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:57:09 +0000

It seems to me that the short version makes sense, and is supported by the oldest really relevant quotation above, the OED one from the OED. I would posit that the longer version is just an intensifier, sort of like “and the horse you rode in on.”

By: aoeu

aoeu — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:04:08 +0000

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/go-pound-sand.html

This is sometimes used with the intention of meaning ‘go and beat/whack sand’ - with the back of a shovel or similar. That’s not the original meaning though, as is made clear from the longer and less-often used version of the phrase - ‘go pound sand up your ass’.

Indeed, quite Arlo-worthy - but nobody knows that.

“Sod off” is similar, with “sod” coming from “sodomy”.

By: Father Bruno Di Frocco

Father Bruno Di Frocco — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:04:03 +0000

Pounding sand up one’s anal orifice was a common directive in the US Army at least as far back as the Vietnam war. I’d guess the expression worked its way fairly easily into the Southeast, what with all the Army installations in the region. Like “get bent,” it was/is a gentler, kinder way of telling someone to … uh … engage in behavior that We Nice People would consider not only nasty but also sorta improbable, physically.

By: Usual John

Usual John — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 06:09:50 +0000

Like most of us, I’ve never heard this longer version, which appears to be a recent and not yet widely-accepted variation, having nothing to do with the original phrase. I would hope that a sensible editor would not block a good strip simply because a few people have started using a variant form of the phrase. Here are the relevant definitions and examples from the Oxford English Dictionary:

7. trans. N. Amer. colloq.

a. to pound sand: to engage in a pointless, menial task. Usu. as a command, expressing dismissal or contempt.

1857 A. SMITH City Poems 169 Peopled now By outcasts, sullen men, bold girls who sat Pounding sand in the sun. 1905 Decatur (Illinois) Rev. 9 Apr. 5/2 If he told them to pound sand, they would pound sand, and think that it was the finest thing in the world. 1926 L. H. NASON Chevrons vi. 195 You guys was too easy!.. Whyncha tell him to pound sand? 1977 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 7 May (Mag. section) 3/3 Masses of men and women are going to tell the McMartrys and Carters of this world to go pound sand. 2004 T. BERLING Reeling in Years v. 153 Usually I tell the individual advancing the critique, ‘Go pound sand up your ass’.

b. to have sense enough to pound sand: used chiefly in negative constructions to imply a lack of competence or intelligence.

1877 Globe (Atchison, Kansas) 26 Dec. 1/4 We don’t know whether the young man you refer to knows enough to pound sand or not. 1894 Los Angeles Times 19 Aug. 5/4 The chairman who didn’t know enough to pound sand with a club. 1937 W. M. RAINE Bucky follows Cold Trail ii. 17 You haven’t sense enough to pound sand in a rat hole. 1963 Washington Post 24 June A24/2 If the United Golf Association had the brains to pound sand, Francis would have been refree [sic] of this round. 1994 Charleston (W. Va.) Gaz. (Electronic ed.) 24 May 11A, He ain’t got sense enough to pound sand in a rathole.