Perhaps this is the origin of a common form of disparagement...
From the American Language Review:
Decades ago, Carl Cochran, retired Professor of English at Colby Sawyer College in New Hampshire, taught at Shady Side Academy in Pittsburgh. He received a composition in which one of his students described his summer adventures in Venezuela, where he had worked for Gulf Oil Company. One error kept appearing throughout the paper. The student consistently misspelled the word burro as burrow.
At the end of the essay, Professor Cochran wrote: "My dear sir: It is apparent to me from your spelling that you do not know your ass from a hole in the ground."
(Thanks to "Misanthropic Scott" for this one.)
- Laffing at Mispellings (American Language Review)
- References to the burro-burrow dichotomy from various journalism style guides on Language Log
