butt » bud

Chiefly in:   the bud of someone's jokes

Classification: English – /t/-flapping

Spotted in the wild:

  • Adding insult to injury, the FOX network, which is taking a beating this fall in the ratings, has become the bud of a joke in the form of a fake press release circulating through portions of the TV industry. (link)
  • You know how people say, “You’re the bud of every joke”?? For you it’s “You’re the bud of every lie”, almost every rumor we know is spoken from your lips. (link)
  • It’s funny how some people are. How some people like to have all attention on them, no matter what the price, or who ends up being the bud of the joke. (link)
  • Not one to be the bud of a joke, Drew replied “If I am such a dog, why did you marry me?” (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

David Romano, whose post was spotted and referred to by Mark Liberman, found himself in the throws of this eggcorn and subsequently went to the bottom of the matter:

> I was talking with Kirk Boydston about this, and he thinks the eggcorn is “bud of all jokes” since intervocalic /t/ becomes a flap. He also suggested that “butt” as in “objective end” of all jokes. Apparently, I should have checked dictionary.com, since when I looked up “butt”, the first definition of the third sense of the word is: One that serves as an object of ridicule or contempt: I was the butt of their jokes.

Indeed, AHD4 notes two verbal and three nominal senses of _butt_, with all in all three different etymologies. The _butt_ of _the butt of someone’s joke(s)_ goes back to French _but_, meaning goal, target.

See also bud»butt as in _nip in the butt_.

| link | entered by Ben Zimmer, 2005/04/02 |

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.