From: Dan Clemmensen (dgc@cox.rr.com)
Date: Sat Sep 22 2001 - 09:35:38 MDT
Michael M. Butler wrote:
> It is, to the best of my understanding, a contraction of the expression
> "You bet your fucking ass."
>
Yes, and this is a classic US Army phrase. It is used as an assertion
of emphatic agreement.
"F***ing" is used in the Army as a general emphatic adjective,
This can lead to ludicrous combinations with various nouns.
"Ass," in this context when used in the Army, means your life or
your most valuable possession or your physical body, as in
" get your ass over here!", "I'll get his ass." etc.
"You bet your ass" means "I am so confident that this is
true that I would be willing to wager my life on the outcome,
and you should be willing to wager yours."
I was born in an Army hospital, attended elementary schools
on Army bases throughout the south, attended a military school,
and spent three years in the Army. It took be many years in the
civilian world to un-learn a lot of bad speech habits.
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