Date: Mon, 8 May 1995 10:45:34 EDT From: "Janet M. Fuller" Subject: Re: Anodyne expletives >. . . and asel. He believed the >>latter to be German for ass-hole, although I don't think Germans ever refer >>specifically to that orifice. >> >> You have got to be kidding. Germans refer explicitly to everything, even when others are eating. I missed the background here, but I believe your 'asel' is probably from "Esel", which is the German word for donkey. The German word for ass-hole is "Arschloch", which is a compound exactly parallel to the English construction. It is, in Germany anyway, less frequently as an expletive than in English, is my impression.