Date: Tue, 18 Oct 1994 16:06:00 EDT From: "Dennis.Preston" <22709MGR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MSU.EDU> Subject: Re: offending idioms It is true that Wham Bam Thank you Mam is an old catchphrase, but it is also only a part of a longer old rabbit joke. A horny old rabbit is moving among his females saying Wham Bam (rapidity and frequency of rabbit intercourse is the joke for you city folks). In the telling of the joke this is said several times, then the line Wham Bam Sorry Sam concludes the telling. Although the line, therefore, orginally had animal sexual reference, the transfer to humans was obvious and usual (at least in my Louisville KY 1940s and 50s childhood). I wanted to set the rabbit history of this phrase straight. Dennis Preston