Question
Ted I'm trying to find out when the expression "bite me" first came into usage as an American slang, and of course, if it is indeed restricted to
American English, or if it is used likewise in other English speaking countries.Thanks. Vicki
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OK -- I have checked more than 20 slang, jargon, and dialect dictionaries. The phrase is mid-20th century, but Beavis and Butthead popularized it.
Here are the entries from the two most significant dictionaries:
"The Random House Dictionary of American Slang," vol. 2-- 1994
The original phrase was "bite it!" The meaning, and I quote from the dictionary, is "go to hell" "f*** you!" -- "usually considered vulgar.
It first appeared in PRINT in 1948, in Cozzens' "Guard of Honor," in reference to World War II -- "Bite it!" Sergeant Pellerino said amiably.
In 1949, Ross McDonald, the mystery writer, changed it somewhat to "Why don't you take a bite of me?" That was in his novel, "Moving Target."
Other variations -- pardon me, but they ARE from the dictionary -- bite the rag; bite my b*tt; bite me in the a**; take a bite of this [in National
Lampoon, 1971, while he was holding his penis]; bite my bag -- and others.
About "eat it," which is another version, a little more crude than "bite it."
"NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions," 3rd edition, 2000.
This dictionary gives the generic form as "eat it," with bite me as a mild variation . There are numerous examples, which I won't repeat. Under "Eat
me!", the dictionary lists it as a "transitive verb." It's definition is "an expression meaning roughly 'suck my genitals.' (Usually objectionable.)
"Eat it, you creep."
One of my colleagues HAS the B&B key ring pictured at this site:
<http://www.wickedcoolstuff.com/bebutake.html>
He says that one of the six phrases is "Bite me, dude."
Sorry this has taken so long, but I wanted to be thorough and I was interrupted many times during the five hours I worked on your question.
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