From: le@main.lekno.ws   
      
   Louis Epstein  wrote:   
   > radioacti...@gmail.com  wrote:   
   >> While scrutinizing John Huston's exquisite "The Asphalt Jungle" the other   
   day for about the dozenth time--it was screened on TCM as part of its 31 Days   
   of Oscar series, earning Sam Jaffe a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his   
   >> third-best role* ever--I was again confronted with some simply inexplicable   
   slang.   
   >>   
   >> That is, no fewer than FIVE TIMES, the character Dix (wonderfully portrayed   
   by sailor-first-actor-second Sterling Hayden's**) says some variation of, "He   
   was tryin' to bone me!"  But it's NEVER clear what the character Dix--essayed   
   >> by Mr. "Precious Bodily Fluids" himself--MEANS by the odd phrase!   
   >>   
   >> And try as I might--including consultation of the usually-comprehensive   
   Urban Dictionary--I can find ZERO mention anywhere of what the slang   
   infinitive "to bone" means.  (And yeah, yeah, even good ol' naive me is aware   
   of the   
   >> well-worn SEXUAL meaning of the verb...but hey, TAJ was a 1950 film, when   
   the dreaded Hollywood Code would have nixed Dix's quintuple employment of the   
   word, had it meant THAT.)   
   >   
   > Is it beyond conjecture that the literal meaning of using a sharp knife to   
   separate his flesh from his bones,that the former   
   > might more easily be consumed as a foodstuff (or otherwise disposed of) was   
   intended?   
   > In just what context had Hayden's character been confronted by the one he   
   spoke of?   
   >   
   >> Taking it purely from the context in which the character Dix used it, it   
   SEEMS to have meant he was being conned or otherwise extorted in some sort of   
   way,   
   >   
   > A metaphorical evocation of literal boning applied to finances?   
   >   
   >> but again, that wasn't at all clear.  (A wise pal counsels me that this was   
   merely some early '50s slang   
   >> that just never caught on despite the serious success of the film, but I'm   
   not sure he's correct about that.)   
   >   
   > Were there prototypical Plastics "trying to make bone happen" ?   
   >   
   >> Anyone else wonder about this dialogue quirk in this terrific, everlasting   
   film noir?  (And yes, I know some film historians instead classify it as a   
   "heist" picture, but whatever slot you fit it into, "The Asphalt Jungle" was   
   >> Hollywood at some of its mid-century finest.)   
   >>   
   >> BRYAN STYBLE/Florida   
   >> ===================   
   >> * His best two, in my view, were as Professor Barnhart in "The Day the   
   Earth Stood Still", and later as Dr. Zorba opposite young Dr. Ben Casey on ABC   
   all those seasons.   
   >> ** Died Friday, May 23, 1986...as it happened, the day after Arlene Francis   
   husband Martin Gabel--and her frequent co-panelist on "What's My Line?"   
   !--expired at 74.   
   >   
   > Two months and three days before the wedding of the Duke of York and Sarah   
   Ferguson.   
      
   (Shades of Adric's last line in "Earthshock"...now I suppose we'll never learn   
   Mr. Styble's reaction).   
      
      
   > -=-=-   
   > The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,   
   > at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)