Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'

Subject: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 06 Jan 18 - 07:03 PM

At age 71, I came across this expression for the first time in a slim monograph by Dorothy Parker called Men I'm Not Married to .

Google notes that Teddy Roosevelt was so described by John Hay, his secretary of state. And it lists elaborations like "more fun than: a goat-roping/ a goat in a sock/ a goat on ice."

But compared to the evocative original, they seem to explain too much--except maybe that goat in a sock.

Is this a well-known expression that I just missed, or did it disappear after a brief vogue in the 1910s?

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 07 Jan 18 - 10:02 PM

More fun than a goat, sounds profane, as
in the same vein as, Oh, you kid!, maybe.

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 07 Jan 18 - 10:14 PM

Good one!

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 18 - 12:55 AM

Monique sent me a story about a French goat. Good story. Sad ending.

https://archive.org/stream/lettersfrommymil00daudrich#page/18/mode/2up

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 08 Jan 18 - 06:44 AM

Great story, Joe, not much fun for the goat.

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: Greg F.
Date: 08 Jan 18 - 05:51 PM

Anything like the New Zealand "More fun than a sheep"?

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: meself
Date: 08 Jan 18 - 06:08 PM

Haven't heard that one. Came across 'more fun than a monkey' in liner notes for a CD by a harmonica-player called 'Little Hatch'. I took that to be a shortened version of 'more fun than a barrel of monkeys'. But never heard the goat one.

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 08 Jan 18 - 06:26 PM

'Anything like the New Zealand "More fun than a sheep"?'

Ewe!

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 09 Jan 18 - 02:24 AM

Well that"s the difference I was driving at, the difference between sheep & goats, and lambs & kids / or, when did the start calling children, kids, instead of lambs, and men goats?

So the slim monograph s title, Men I'm Not Married to, could imply adultery same as, I Love My Wife But, Oh, You Kid!, did,
and the whole goat/kid thing, plus they're both c.1910, connected in my mind as a connection...without looking further then 5 minutes, also I have lately wondered about the kid moniker, so I posted.

Thanks for the nice one! Professor.

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 09 Jan 18 - 06:37 AM

Paperback, thank you for your contribution to scholarship. Parker's description of the man who was "more fun than a goat" doesn't suggest adultery, however. He's not just someone not to marry, but someone not to sit next to on a bus.

But your contrast between sheep and goats with respect to fun made me think of an interpretation of the expression that is utterly obvious on the face of it but never occurred to me: Maybe it's deadpan litotes masked as hyperbole? Something on the order of "Why, he's more fun than a colonoscopy!" How much fun is a goat, really? Or Teddy Roosevelt if you're his secretary of state?

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 09 Jan 18 - 04:00 PM

Well when I saw your post I thought to myself...he's fishin'. So I plunked my line in to, but only hooked a couple bottomfeeders.

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: Jackaroodave
Date: 10 Jan 18 - 10:38 AM

Thank you for your input, Paperback. It was helpful and provided me with a couple of images that I'll never forget.

Subject: RE: Folklore: 'More fun than a goat'
From: GUEST,paperback
Date: 11 Jan 18 - 04:17 PM

As they say across the sea,
every day's a school day