A Hack Writer "Blows Smoke Up Your A@*" [on Tobacco Enemas & Phrase Origins]
I've been making much of ballyhooing this post as coming soon in other blog posts, on podcasts, & on streams--and have been for a bit now. Before we get started on this over-hyped bit of hackery... what's a hack writer? I mean, it seems apropos.
Well, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle might've thought himself a hack, due to the commercial popularity of Sherlock Holmes. 56 short stories, four novels. He really cranked 'em out for The Strand. All the while, what he truly wanted to be was a more artsy-fartsy author. He even tried his 1891-1894 Great Hiatus from Sherlockian tales in an effort to separate from his most iconic character; alas to no avail.
As Mickey Spillane said of comparisons between Hemingway and himself in terms of sales "More people eat peanuts than steak." I must agree then digress. Let's more clearly define what hack writer means--it's a knock on one who rushes out words, on short deadlines, for money. It's a scenario that often falls short in terms of both quality & pay. But none of this is why you're here. None of it at all.
You are here (according to the hype mentioned atop) to do two things: 1) learn about the real history of tobacco enemas, & 2) find out if that bit of 1800s medical practicing led to the phrase we know today as 'blowing smoke up someone's ass.' Or someone blowing smoke up your ass. Or that person blowing smoke up that person's ass. You get the gist. #staysmoky fam! FAM!!!
{Or you are here because you got lost on the way to somewhere else--but in a way aren't we all?}
1) ONE
I AM WRITING THIS ON STOLEN NATIVE LAND and also, it involves Native Americans--for it was they who first introduced the ::: very ::: idea of the tobacco enema. This was, for them, a tact typically employed to stimulate respiration. The White Man thought this was an excellent idea and shortly after that, so did The White Man across the bloody pond. But the thing is, it became kind of a thing once it left the grasp of its originators.
"Before bellows were included in the resuscitation kit, the results could be disastrous to the tobacco smoke blower." (British Columbia Medical Journal, Special Feature Tobacco Smoke Enemas.) Here, we can learn a pair of really important factoids in rapid succession: this was such a popular method that kits were created. Also, we see that the Native American idea of tubing was lost in translation and an awful lot of good samaritans maybe ate shit and died. No idea if this is the birth of that phrase.
Oh, and we also know that in the life of tobacco enemas as a fad of sorts (that's at least how I see it)--they went from stimulating respiration to full-on resuscitation. PRAISE JESUS! It's kinda like how doctors these days prescribe yoga and also how pot fixes everything. [image of pet rock]
2) TWO
Currently and since the 1960s, to "Blow smoke up someone's ass" means to insincerely, and using deception, stroke their ego w/ pretty words you know they want to hear. That's correct... the flower power hippie-dippy 1960's. A far cry from the Victorian Era.
Simply, there exists no direct visible connection between tobacco enema practice & the smoke-up-ass phrase. Not only that but what the phrase means also does not line up with trying to cure common colds and even un-drown drowning victims by sheer force of butt billows. I know, I know, meanings change... living language... blah blah blah.
For my 0.02USD on the matter, and I'm probably talking out my ass here, the smoke in 1960s question is more than likely in reference to marijuana and perhaps in cozying up to a person for a hit on a joint or some such shit. Fucking hippies.
BONUS CONTENT 'Talking out my/your ass' is to be taken as an accusation of a person having no idea as to what they're talking about--yet presenting it authoritatively. This both vulgar and slang term is used in the UK, US, and Canada. Sadly, I cannot readily track its origin. However, in mildly attempting to do-so, I did tire myself beyond even attempting to learn more about 'Eat shit and die." My, look at the time. END OF BONUS CONTENT
1) ONE
I AM WRITING THIS ON STOLEN NATIVE LAND and also, it involves Native Americans--for it was they who first introduced the ::: very ::: idea of the tobacco enema. This was, for them, a tact typically employed to stimulate respiration. The White Man thought this was an excellent idea and shortly after that, so did The White Man across the bloody pond. But the thing is, it became kind of a thing once it left the grasp of its originators.
"Before bellows were included in the resuscitation kit, the results could be disastrous to the tobacco smoke blower." (British Columbia Medical Journal, Special Feature Tobacco Smoke Enemas.) Here, we can learn a pair of really important factoids in rapid succession: this was such a popular method that kits were created. Also, we see that the Native American idea of tubing was lost in translation and an awful lot of good samaritans maybe ate shit and died. No idea if this is the birth of that phrase.
Oh, and we also know that in the life of tobacco enemas as a fad of sorts (that's at least how I see it)--they went from stimulating respiration to full-on resuscitation. PRAISE JESUS! It's kinda like how doctors these days prescribe yoga and also how pot fixes everything. [image of pet rock]
2) TWO
Currently and since the 1960s, to "Blow smoke up someone's ass" means to insincerely, and using deception, stroke their ego w/ pretty words you know they want to hear. That's correct... the flower power hippie-dippy 1960's. A far cry from the Victorian Era.
Simply, there exists no direct visible connection between tobacco enema practice & the smoke-up-ass phrase. Not only that but what the phrase means also does not line up with trying to cure common colds and even un-drown drowning victims by sheer force of butt billows. I know, I know, meanings change... living language... blah blah blah.
For my 0.02USD on the matter, and I'm probably talking out my ass here, the smoke in 1960s question is more than likely in reference to marijuana and perhaps in cozying up to a person for a hit on a joint or some such shit. Fucking hippies.
BONUS CONTENT 'Talking out my/your ass' is to be taken as an accusation of a person having no idea as to what they're talking about--yet presenting it authoritatively. This both vulgar and slang term is used in the UK, US, and Canada. Sadly, I cannot readily track its origin. However, in mildly attempting to do-so, I did tire myself beyond even attempting to learn more about 'Eat shit and die." My, look at the time. END OF BONUS CONTENT
Penultimately and at so long-suffering last, please allow this hack to tell you how great you look in that shirt. Really makes your pretty eyes pop. I hope you enjoyed the tobacco enema of that previous sentence. & now ultimately, Hack is derived from Hackneyed, of a thing of no significance on account of being trite and/or overused. This smacks of schtick to me--as does this entire damned thing. With that, the jig is up.
Thanks for reading! & have a day.
@kaplowitzmedia
Twitter | Instagram
Thanks for reading! & have a day.
@kaplowitzmedia
Twitter | Instagram
::: very :::