A modest proposal

Quote: odiousgambit

I got this one, at least I think I do ... no one ever explained it. I have been surprised to find people who use the expression but don't know where it evidently came from.

Well exactly. You can always say "everyone has to take a turn at the unpleasant chore", but if you say "it's your turn in the barrel" the expression is much more colorful. I know that some people use the expression because they hear other people say it, and you can tell they don't know the joke.

It really is not pleasant to explain things to people. It makes you feel like your stealing from a kid. One woman I worked with said she was at a family function (pre-internet), and her grandmother got very agitated. She said I am 90 years old, and I hear all this talk about "gays", and I don't know what they are talking about. I demand to be told what it means ! I felt badly for Lynn, and I said that is a terrible job to have to explain the mechanics of gay sex to a 90 year old woman. She said her grandmother turned white.