Date:  Mon, 30 Oct 1995 17:24:16 -0500

From:  Ronald Butters <amspeech[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ACPUB.DUKE.EDU>

Subject: Re: BITE ME



=20

On Sat, 28 Oct 1995, Seth Sklarey wrote:

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> Sorry to inform you that it dates from the late 50's (So. Fla.)

> and means "suck my richard <abbrev.>" also used as "eat me!"

> used as an insult from one heterosexual male to another

> usually to mean "you are wrong" or "I don't accept that" and

> "that's final," end of conversation, or "what you said is stupid."

=20

It would be helpful if you gave your source for this potentially useful

citing and gloss. (What is a "richard," by the way? Do you really mean

"abbrev."--or "euph."?) It seems to me that sucking and biting are two

such different activities that I'm not very convinced by the ppotential

connection. The thought that one might ask to have one's "richard

(euph.)" bitten is less likely than asking to have one's "donkey (euph.)"

bitten. Moreover, women, who have no "richard (euph.)," say "Bite me!"

=20

 > Evolved into "bite this"

> while grabbing crotch with one or both hands. Now quite common

> even on TV. See N.Y.P.D. Blues Detective Sipowitz (Dennis

> Franz) who uses it frequently, or Bud Bundy on Married With

> Children.

=20

Yes, I've seen this, too. But THIS seems to suggest that "bite my ass"

was the original phrase fromn which "bite me" was shortened, from which

the meanings 'bite my richard (euph.)' and then 'suck my penis' derived.

=20

> Your intuition fell a bit (or a bite) short.

=20

Well, my intuition about the age of "bite me" was probzbly wrong.

But my intuition about the meaning and etymology is at least as good as

yours! (Or

maybe we just speak different dialects, as the formalist linguists would

say.) And maybe my LOGIC is better.

=20

> Ron Butters wrote:> >

> >My intuition is that "bite me" is relatively new--within the last 20

> >years or so--and I guess it comes from "bite my ass," in insulting retor=

t

> >related to "kiss my ass" and which is surely much older.

> >

> >"Bite me"thus strikes me as a kind of politer form of "kiss my ass."=B4