What’s the answer to “Got a match?” Hint: “My ass and your donkey” is not a clever response.
One of the most asinine etymologies I’ve heard is that ass —as in donkey —is the source of the pejorative word asinine itself— meaning “obstinate, crass, silly.”
Well, of course it’s an asinine etymology, first because it’s about the word asinine and second because it’s right. But, you say, everybody knows that asinine refers to the human bottom, and being asinine is being a figurative asshole—a jerk, a dolt. Alas and an ass, what everybody knows is (shock upon shock) wrong. Asinine means “related to what we now refer to as a donkey,” in the same formation as feline, canine, porcine, and forktine, though I’ll admit that the last one was added just so I could be asinine. Again.