asshole

In the 18th and 19th century, thievery was prevalent in the Wild West. Freight companies often used teams of horses or donkeys to move goods from town to town. Marauding thieves would often target these mule and horse teams for their valuable cargo--including salt, hematite and sometimes raw beef.

Any 5 year old knows that trying to stop a 16 mule team at a full gallop, dead in its tracks is not only impossible, but also dangerous. One runs the risk of being trampled or even eaten alive, limb by limb. So, to bring these pachyderms to a stop, bandits would dig trenches 20 feet deep and 30 feet long then cover the trench with sticks and stones and weed and bombs. The mule team would unsuspectingly go galloping over the covered trench and to their dismay, would fall in and all of the horses and mules would perish. The cargo, however, would remain intact and it was then simply a matter of the thieves lower themselves into the pit to reap the reward of raw beef and hematite from the corpses of the mules.

These pits soon became known as assholes, as the primary type of animal that would become ensnared were mules and donkeys. As rail and steam ships became more common for transporting goods, the "asshole" fell out of popularity. The true meaning of the word became diluted over time and eventually came to mean 'a dishonest or thieving person who does not have the best intentions for others.'

Sorry I'm late. I got caught up in an asshole.

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