"Wuss" and 60s, 70s documents

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Wed Feb 2 01:45:44 UTC 2000


     A '60s "wuss" gets worse.
     I just checked THE QUEENS' VERNACULAR: A GAY LEXICON (1972) by Bruce
Rodgers.  There are over 12,000 entries, such as puss. pussy, pussy boy,
pussy bumper, pussy duster, pussy good, pussy out, pussy patrol, pussy
pusher, pussy tightener, pussy up, pusy, wimp, and wimpy.  "Wuss" is not
there!
    Tom Dalzell considered many sources, including Peter Tamony (who, being
located in San Francisco in the 1960s, was in an ideal place).  CURRENT SLANG
was a quarterly published by the University of South Dakota from 1966 to
1971.  There was also the COLLEGE UNDERGRADUATE SLANG STUDY CONDUCTED AT
BROWN UNIVERSITY, SEMESTER II, 1967-1968.  A Philadelphia disc jockey put out
THE HY LIT DICTIONARY in 1968.  There was THE HIP POCKET BOOK (1967), THE HIP
GLOSSARY OF HIPPIE LANGUAGE (1967), YE OLDE HIPTIONARY (1970), Jerry Rubin's
DO IT! (1970), and Abbie Hoffman's REVOLUTION FOR THE HELL OF IT (1968) and
WOODSTOCK NATION (1969).
    These are time capsules of our American language, and "wuss" is not in
any of them.
    I'm open to a 1960s "wuss," but it doesn't look promising I'll find it.



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