Ralph Varney
Cleveland, Ohio U.S.A
ralphvarney@lycos.co.uk
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Go Pound Salt ???
Go Pound Salt ???
I'm trying to find out where "Go Pound Salt" originated. Can anyone help?
Ralph Varney
Cleveland, Ohio U.S.A
ralphvarney@lycos.co.uk
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Ralph Varney
Cleveland, Ohio U.S.A
ralphvarney@lycos.co.uk
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Go Pound Salt ???
Ralph, This expression is a bit unpleasant, but a Wordwizard has to do what he has to do. In a nutshell it means ‘go fuck yourself.’ The full phrase is ‘go pound salt up your ass,’ which was a figure of speech for ‘go do something degrading to yourself.’
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Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang
POUND SALT UP YOUR ASS! exclamation [20th century] (U.S.) Euphemism for ‘go to hell’
[[that’s strange. I thought a euphemism was supposed to be a mild expression substituted for a harsh one. A hypothetical pounding of salt up a personal orifice sounds a lot worse to me than a make-believe trip to Hades – but perhaps times they are achangin’. On second thought this is probably an error and he meant to be referring to ‘pound salt’ sans ‘up your ass’]]
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Chapman’s Dictionary of American Slang
POUND SALT (or SAND) verb phrase by 1950s = go fuck oneself: <The Brooklyn strike force seemed unwilling to share any information. cf. ‘go pound salt’ They told Giacalone to pound sand—Vanity Fair>
GO POUND SALT (or SAND) verb phrase (Variation: up one’s ass may be added) by 1950s. To do something degrading and humiliating; = go fuck oneself: <. . . told Glazer and the feds to go pound sand, in legal terms, of course—Philadelphia
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Flexner’s Dictionary of American Slang
POUND SALT = pound salt up one’s ass: This euphemism [yes!] much more common than the full term
POUND SALT UP ONE’S ASS [taboo] 1) A strong term of rebuke. ‘Go pound salt up your ass’ = ‘shut up’ or ‘stick it up your ass.’ 2) An expression of anger at, contempt for, or rejection of a person.
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Ken G – August 25, 2003
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Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang
POUND SALT UP YOUR ASS! exclamation [20th century] (U.S.) Euphemism for ‘go to hell’
[[that’s strange. I thought a euphemism was supposed to be a mild expression substituted for a harsh one. A hypothetical pounding of salt up a personal orifice sounds a lot worse to me than a make-believe trip to Hades – but perhaps times they are achangin’. On second thought this is probably an error and he meant to be referring to ‘pound salt’ sans ‘up your ass’]]
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Chapman’s Dictionary of American Slang
POUND SALT (or SAND) verb phrase by 1950s = go fuck oneself: <The Brooklyn strike force seemed unwilling to share any information. cf. ‘go pound salt’ They told Giacalone to pound sand—Vanity Fair>
GO POUND SALT (or SAND) verb phrase (Variation: up one’s ass may be added) by 1950s. To do something degrading and humiliating; = go fuck oneself: <. . . told Glazer and the feds to go pound sand, in legal terms, of course—Philadelphia
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Flexner’s Dictionary of American Slang
POUND SALT = pound salt up one’s ass: This euphemism [yes!] much more common than the full term
POUND SALT UP ONE’S ASS [taboo] 1) A strong term of rebuke. ‘Go pound salt up your ass’ = ‘shut up’ or ‘stick it up your ass.’ 2) An expression of anger at, contempt for, or rejection of a person.
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Ken G – August 25, 2003
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Go Pound Salt ???
Excellent! Thank you very much.
Ralph
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Ralph
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Go Pound Salt ???
It means, if you have nothing better to do, go pound salt. The barnacles and things that corroded everything in the old days! So, it was kind of like cleaning the bathroom. Go POUND SALT -- was said to you if someone wanted to get rid of their plumber without paying for his services!
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Go Pound Salt ???
Dear no-name respondent, That sounds wonderful and it is exactly what I supposed it meant when I began to research the question. However, after I checked some of the best slang dictionaries available and they didn’t mention it as a possibility, I assumed that since that’s what those folks do for a living, that they know what they were talking about.
So, I would say this. The official meaning of the expression is as I have stated. Some people who don’t know the origin and dictionary meaning of the expression have probably begun to use it as you have said, for it does make eminent sense viewed in that way. And if enough people do that for a long enough time, the slang dictionaries will have to list that as an alternate meaning. But right now that is not the case. So I guess I wouldn’t risk using the expression thinking it had the meaning you’ve suggested, when the person on the receiving end might believe it has the meaning in the dictionary – it’s too risky!
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Ken G – August 26, 2003
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So, I would say this. The official meaning of the expression is as I have stated. Some people who don’t know the origin and dictionary meaning of the expression have probably begun to use it as you have said, for it does make eminent sense viewed in that way. And if enough people do that for a long enough time, the slang dictionaries will have to list that as an alternate meaning. But right now that is not the case. So I guess I wouldn’t risk using the expression thinking it had the meaning you’ve suggested, when the person on the receiving end might believe it has the meaning in the dictionary – it’s too risky!
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Ken G – August 26, 2003
Reply from Ken Greenwald (Fort Collins, CO - U.S.A.)
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Go Pound Salt ???
Pound Sand
The origin of the expression go pound sand is from a longer expression, not to know (have enough sense to) pound sand down a rathole. Filling rat holes with sand is menial work, and telling someone to pound sand down a hole is like telling them to go fly a kite. The expression dates to at least 1912 and is common in the midwestern United States.
This came from http://www.wordorigin.org
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The origin of the expression go pound sand is from a longer expression, not to know (have enough sense to) pound sand down a rathole. Filling rat holes with sand is menial work, and telling someone to pound sand down a hole is like telling them to go fly a kite. The expression dates to at least 1912 and is common in the midwestern United States.
This came from http://www.wordorigin.org
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Go Pound Salt ???
There is an older usage. In the very old days, criminals were sentenced to hard labor. One of the labors was pounding big rocks into little rocks. Sometimes the rocks little rocks were used for fill, such as road bed base, rail road base (called ballast) and in the lowest part of sailing ships as ballast (classical meaning). Because the shiprights did not want the ballast to shift (very bad when the load shifts on a sailing ship), and concrete hadn't been invented at the time, smaller rocks and sand were pounded into the layers of larger ballast rock to hold it still during the voyage. The working space was cramped, wet, dank, rat infested and generally unpleasant. Later still, special ballast spaces were designed which had retaining walls to keep the ballast from shifting.
Thus, pound sand had two early meanings. The first was to for a long prison sentence, you would pound big rocks to small rocks, small rocks to gravel, and gravel to sand (lifer in modern terminology) without end; engage in a futile occupation since sand is so plentiful. The second early term was for a sailors term for an undesirable job; punishment.
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Thus, pound sand had two early meanings. The first was to for a long prison sentence, you would pound big rocks to small rocks, small rocks to gravel, and gravel to sand (lifer in modern terminology) without end; engage in a futile occupation since sand is so plentiful. The second early term was for a sailors term for an undesirable job; punishment.
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Go Pound Salt ???
we tell our boss to go pound salt all the time..not realizing the severity of what it means! I guess we'll keep it secret:)
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Go Pound Salt ???
please tell me some degradeing words how i can degrade myslef
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Go Pound Salt ???
I always heard the expression "Go pound salt up your keister". Keister meaning ass.
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Re: Go Pound Salt ???
The origin is from 19th Century United States, and the reference would be to salt mine labor. The low man on the totem pole, or often the dumbest, would be assigned the job of pounding rock salt into crystals to be used in curing meats.
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Re: Go Pound Salt ???
Pat,
You state this as a fact. If you want us to accept this you should provide some proof!
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Ken Greenwald – November 10, 2019
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You state this as a fact. If you want us to accept this you should provide some proof!
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Ken Greenwald – November 10, 2019
Re: Go Pound Salt ???
I've never heard it as "pound salt". My Dad often used the expression "pound sand". Even as a kid, it was pretty clear to me what it meant...but I can remember being confused about why... then again, "Go fuck yourself" didn't make much sense to my young self, either. Just to clarify- he never directed either of those at me.
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