‘And all to b⸺n was he, was he.’”
—(Harington, “Ajax,” p. 35.)
This behavior, disgusting as it appears to us in all its features, had its parallel in the conduct of a prominent member of European aristocracy, who was wont to indulge his anger in a manner strikingly similar to the above at such moments as seemed to be proper for the punishment of his servants. His name is suppressed at the request of the correspondent furnishing the item.
Niebuhr says that the grossest insult that can be offered to a man, especially a Mahometan, in Arabia, is to spit upon his beard, or to say “De l’ordure sur ta barbe.”—(“Desc. de l’Arabie,” Amsterdam, 1774, p. 26.)
Niebuhr’s remarks in regard to the offence taken by the Bedouins at such an infraction of their etiquette as flatulence are repeated in a vague and guarded form by Maltebrun (“Univ. Geog.,” vol. ii. part “Arabia”).
In Angola, Africa, the greatest insult is, “Go and eat s—t.”—(Muhongo.)
“Dunghill. A coward. A cock-pit phrase, all but gamecocks being styled dunghills.”—(Grose, “Dictionary of Slang,” London, 1811.)
Tailors who accepted the wages prescribed by law were styled “Dung” by the “Flints,” who refused them.—(Idem.)
Among the rough games of English sailors was one, “The Galley,” in which a mopful of excrement was thrust in a landsman’s face.—(Idem.)
In Angola, Africa, flatulence is freely permitted among the natives; but any license of this kind taken while strangers are in the vicinity is regarded as a deadly insult.—(“Muhongo,” translated by Rev. Mr. Chatelain.)