I thought the water would be colder over here

This weekend, after living on the East Coast for six and a half years, I dipped my toes in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. The weather in Charleston was perfect, and the city was beautiful, though it does seem better suited for visiting than living. A very good friend married a very good man, and some old Olin friends got to catch up on each other's lives.

I have an important question: where were you raised, and do you say "up the wazoo," or "out the wazoo" (if either)? Preliminary results suggest that northerners favor "up" while 2 out of 3 southerners favor "out" ("the wazoo is a one way street!"). However, the sample size was small and I need more data points before drawing any conclusions.

Comments

Unknown said…
Up the wazoo, per Chicago
Anonymous said…
up the wazoo in Seattle and AK
Anonymous said…
sidetracking...saw The Visitor tonite...immediately thought of your 07/22/07 post. gh
Sarah said…
I think the real problem is that I don't know enough people from the South.

The Visitor looks like a good movie--maybe I can ask my parents to order it from Netflix.
EriD said…
up the wazoo - VT and MD, but my Mom says it and she's from SC
-ErinD
Sarah said…
Interesting. As far as Google is concerned, up and out are pretty evenly matched, with out winning by a hair (104,000 to 103,000).
Grant Hutchins said…
Out the wazoo, Oklahoma-style
Anonymous said…
out the wazoo in WV.

But it's not entirely a one-way street. As far as Google is concerned, "in the wazoo" gets a greater-than 1% share of wazoos.
Sarah said…
Washington has lobbyists up the wazoo.

Washington has lobbyists out the wazoo.

Washington has lobbyists in the wazoo.

I can see why "in the wazoo" is a marginal usage.

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