[lit-ideas] Re: Pratts

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  • Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2011 13:31:14 +0200


On 2-Jun-11, at 11:07 PM, Robert Paul wrote:

... prat ... “buttock,” 1560s, criminals’ slang, of unknown origin. Later in U.S. criminal slang, “hip pocket” (1914), and in British slang “contemptible person” (1968).

'Prat' meaning (roughly) 'contemptible person' has also been used in Canadian slang. I seem to recall 'Don't be a prat!' from my teenage years (i.e. the late 1960's); 'Don't be an ass!' would be a fair equivalent, but considered profane (in Canadian English of the time 'ass' referred to 'buttocks' and rarely if ever to 'donkey', which i believe is or was the more common British meaning when using this phrase).

I was aware of the figurative use of 'pratfall' and associated its literal meaning to comedy/slapstick (Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, et al.) , but was not aware that it specifically referred to a fall on one's buttocks.

I've also found nothing more than 'of unknown origin' for the origin of 'prat = buttock'.

Thanks to Robert - and to David Ritchie for his extensive posting with reference to Partridge.

Chris Bruce,
sitting firmly on his prats,
and taking a fall for nobody, in
Kiel, Germany
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