They say "boner" differently there.
What a happy circumstance it is for us here in the present that "boner" once meant "stupid blunder." I own a copy of this collection of Batman stories featuring the Joker. It contains the infamous "Joker's Comedy of Errors," in which the titular villain goes on a crime spree organized around history's greatest boners. A very partial list of its delights:
Only a sense of humor like the Joker's could think of tranlating boners into crimes!
When the clown prince of crookdom sets out to re-create the classic errors of history for personal gain--and in addition readies a special boner just for Batman--it all adds up to one of the most exciting adventures ever to befall the dynamic duo.
The Joker's Collection of the Great Boners of History.
So! They'll laugh at my boner, will they?! I'll show them! I'll show them how many boners the Joker can make!
This emphasis on boners has given me an idea for a new adventure in crime!
I will take the great boners of all time and turn them into crimes!
See this picture? It shows a big boner of modern vintage.
Soon, Batman will make the boner of the year!
I'm worried about the boner he's readying for YOU!
It represents one of the classic boners of all time.
Confound that Batman! It is well that I am ready to trick him into HIS boner.
Gotham City will rue the day it mentioned the word boner!
Quite. The past also gives us this:
Vintage collections of howlers, illustrated by Dr Seuss! And this:
No excuse for draft boards to pull boners now (Jan 1949).
You might think that the 1980s were too recent to produce a prime-time character unblinkingly named Boner, but history disagrees.
What's more, the actor, Andrew Koenig, appeared as the Joker in a popular fan-made short film called "Batman: Dead End." Can this be a coincidence? Surely not.
That's right, Simpy. Never apologize, never explain.
Boner.
Boner's real name was Dicky Stabone, so I'm pretty sure it was a penis reference rather than an antiquated usage. I guess the FCC was more permissive then. Now they have to resort to Stiflers and more subtle stuff.
Posted by: mkt | 02/04/2010 at 02:50 PM
Oho! Little did I realize. IT IS I WHO AM THE INNOCENT.
Posted by: redfox | 02/04/2010 at 02:58 PM
Boner has only meant an erection of the penis since 1962! Larkin was right!
Posted by: ben | 02/04/2010 at 08:04 PM
Tee hee.
Any minute, my husband will enter the room and find his wife, whom he believed to be a proper grown-up lady, tipped over in titters at BONERS, by Those Who Pulled Them.
Posted by: Elsa | 02/10/2010 at 11:50 AM
(Hee hee, I said "titters.")
Posted by: Elsa | 02/20/2010 at 11:28 PM
Said demise to Boner Stabone this week.
Posted by: heebie-geebie | 02/28/2010 at 03:45 PM