Topic: A Loaf of Bread Well Soaked?

[Dog Hambone]

If this was asked before, it was a long time ago & I missed it.

Curly is stuffing a turkey in AN ACHE IN EVERY STAKE when the recipe calls for "a loaf of bread well soaked". He picks up a loaf of bread & then starts punching it. Shemp repeats the routine in LISTEN, JUDGE.

What's up with that? Is "soaked" some kind of boxing slang (for getting beaten up, maybe)?

  

[FineBari3]

If this was asked before, it was a long time ago & I missed it.

Curly is stuffing a turkey in AN ACHE IN EVERY STAKE when the recipe calls for "a loaf of bread well soaked". He picks up a loaf of bread & then starts punching it. Shemp repeats the routine in LISTEN, JUDGE.

What's up with that? Is "soaked" some kind of boxing slang (for getting beaten up, maybe)?
 

I've wondered that myself.

[Lefty]

I think that they read "soaked" and thought it said "socked."  Just my 6&7/8 cents' worth.

[shemps#1]

The word "soak" can mean to beat hard or punish severely as slang.

[Dr. Hugo Gansamacher]

The word "soak" can mean to beat hard or punish severely as slang.

I seem to recall that during my childhood (roughly 40 years ago) there was a game called "soak 'em" (I only recall the sound; I'm sure I never saw it written) that involved throwing a ball at people.

[Dog Hambone]

The word "soak" can mean to beat hard or punish severely as slang.

Well, plant me now & dig me later. By golly, you're right. I tried Wiktionary before I started this thread, but the only definitions I found were about what you'd expect (saturating something with liquid). I then tried Dictionary.com. & they had your definition word for word:
"Verb. Slang. to beat hard; punish severely"
 
For you boozers, there is also a slang definition of soak, a noun, which is "a heavy drinker".
 

[BeAStooge]

For you boozers, there is also a slang definition of soak, a noun, which is "a heavy drinker".

Ref., see GOOD OLD SOAK (1937), starring Wallace Beery and Ted Healy.

[shemps#1]

Well, plant me now & dig me later. By golly, you're right. I tried Wiktionary before I started this thread, but the only definitions I found were about what you'd expect (saturating something with liquid). I then tried Dictionary.com. & they had your definition word for word:
"Verb. Slang. to beat hard; punish severely"
 
For you boozers, there is also a slang definition of soak, a noun, which is "a heavy drinker".
 

Yeah, that's where I got it from. I had heard the term "soak(ed)" used that way before and figured that's what it meant but I just wanted to make sure.

[xraffle]

Finally, someone has asked a question that I've been wondering myself for many years. I finally know the answer! Thanks guys!

[Rich Finegan]

For you boozers, there is also a slang definition of soak, a noun, which is "a heavy drinker".
 

In the 1932 Laurel & Hardy short SCRAM! Arthur Housman is drunk, and has been out in the rain. His wife asks Stan & Ollie if her husband is wet, and Stan answers, "Wet! He's soaked!"