One of the silliest sideshows in the past couple weeks has been the intense focus on Brett Kavanaugh’s high school yearbook. One of the specific claims has been the insistence that “Devil’s Triangle” was a reference to a sex act. This claim was making the rounds on Twitter all week, for example:

This peaked yesterday when Kavanaugh’s college roommate who wrote a piece for Slate saying he knew for a fact that this was slang for sex:

He claimed that he occasionally drank too much but never enough to forget details of the night before, never enough to “black out.” He did, regularly. He said that “boofing” was farting and the “Devil’s Triangle” was a drinking game. “Boofing” and “Devil’s Triangle” are sexual references. I know this because I heard Brett and his friends using these terms on multiple occasions.

But today the Judiciary Committee released two letters signed by several people who say that’s not true, that in fact this was a drinking game they played in high school involving three cups arranged in a triangle. The letters aren’t posted on the Judiciary Committee site yet but they are floating around on Twitter:

Letters sent to and released by Senate Judiciary Committee insist “Devil’s Triangle” is a drinking game pic.twitter.com/FApKrLvojo — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 4, 2018

The first letter is signed by four of Kavanaugh’s classmates. It reads:

“Devil’s Triangle” was a drinking game we came up with in high school. It was a variation on the game “Quarters.” When we played “Devil’s Triangle,” four people sat at a table. On the table, three small glasses of beer were arranged next to one another to form a triangle. Each of the four participants took turns being the “shooter.” The shooter attempted to bounce a quarter into one of the glasses. If the quarter landed in one of the glasses, the person at the table sitting nearest the glass had to drink the beer. We do not remember the exact origin of the name, but none of us used the phrase “Devil’s Triangle” in our yearbook to refer to any kind of sexual activity. To us, it was just a game with glasses in the shape of a triangle. If the phrase “Devil’s Triangle” had any sexual meaning in the early 1980s, we did not know it.

The second letter is signed by two individuals who say they knew Kavanaugh in the 80s but haven’t spoken to him in 25 years:

We are not from the Washington, DC area. However, during our first year at Boston College, we lived with Matthew Quinn, who is an alumnus of Georgetown Prep and was a classmate of Brett’s. Matthew taught us a drinking game called “Devil’s Triangle” that he had played with his friends in high school. We did not understand “Devil’s Triangle” to have any sexual meaning. It was simply a game that used cups or glasses of beer placed in the shape of a triangle.

One of the four signatories to the first letter is Bernard McCarthy. He may not remember the exact origin of the name but, as Guy Benson pointed out, McCarthy took credit for naming it that in his own statement in the yearbook. “Devil’s Triangle 9 founder of the name)” he wrote. The “9” appears to be a typo which should have been left parentheses.

Shot: Bernard McCarthy’s early 80’s Georgetown Prep yearbook post claiming credit for inventing the “Devil’s Triangle.” Chaser: Bernard McCarthy’s new letter to the Judiciary Committee explaining that the “Devil’s Triangle” was…a drinking game. pic.twitter.com/GIwewEXczI — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 4, 2018

Here’s a close up from the yearbook:

There’s another noteworthy point here. Michael Avenatti and others on the left have also claimed that the “FFFFFF” found in Kavanaugh’s yearbook statement had a specific sexual meaning. Kavanaugh himself explained at the hearing last week (and in a conference call with Senators) that it was a reference to his friend Squee who always had a big windup when he used the f-word. McCarthy’s yearbook seems to support that as well. “Squee you’re such an idiot! FFFFFFFFF”

So that’s two anti-Kavanaugh conspiracy theories that just went ka-boom. Will any of this matter to the thousands of lefties on social media who were pronouncing Kavanaugh guilty of perjury? Will they now come forward and admit they were wrong? Don’t hold your breath waiting.

Update: While we’re on the topic of high school yearbook slang…

A quick search of Google Books turned up this reference to "boof" in the "Art of the Fart" by Steve Bryant (2004). Not sure where this book stacks up on shelf of flatulence history texts, tho. Another funny synonym in passage. https://t.co/pf7LHJSZHB pic.twitter.com/UyraD14MF6 — Del Quentin Wilber (@DelWilber) October 4, 2018

Update: Someone sent me this on Twitter. He makes a good point: