[Dixielandjazz] Re: Getting your ashes hauled
barbonestreet at earthlink.net
Mon Oct 6 16:39:17 PDT 2003
> "John Farrell" <stridepiano at tesco.net> wrote
> A long time ago I heard a discussion on the etymology of this expression. I
> seem to remember that it had something to do with strictly orthodox Jewish
> people who because of their religious convictions would do no work of any
> kind on the Sabbath. They paid other people - often recruited from the local
> black population - to do any essential tasks for them (one of the jobs which
> had to be done daily was clearing out the fireplace, a chore known as
> "hauling ashes").
> Jewish men regarded sexual intercourse on the Sabbath as work and thus
> abstained from it, so if their wives felt a little frisky on that day they
> got their Sabbath servants to service them - a practice referred to
> euphemistically as "hauling ashes".
Partially correct. The non-Jewish person was employed to clean out the ashes in the coal furnace and to stoke it so that the house would remain heated, since
Orthodox Jews can not do any work on the Sabbath. The worker was commonly referred to as the "House Goy". "Goy" being a non-Jewish person, short for the yiddish
word which means "Non jew".
The part about hiring the house goy to service a wife is an absurd fantasy and an insult to Orthodox Jews everywhere.
Getting ones ashes hauled usually refers to males. As sexually used, simply means getting rid of the excess before it is released via a nocturnal emission. Like
get the ashes out of the furnace before it explodes. (or goes out)
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