FWIW

[Jonathan Lighter]

Hi, Wendalyn!  I recall "dipstick" from about the same time - am too unmotivated to look it up in HDAS.  Undoubtedly it's a euphemism for the earlier "dipshit" sugg. by "I'll be dipped in shit!"

JL

Wendalyn Nichols <wendalyn at NYC.RR.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wendalyn Nichols
Subject: Re: FWIW
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I remember "dipshit" from the 1970s (white Seattle), but most of the time
we euphemized it as "dipstick." Dunno which came first.
WRN

At 04:27 AM 12/5/04, you wrote:
>HDAS has a number of cites for, "Well, I'll be dipped in shit!" referring
>to WWII, though not published till years later. White guys from the rural
>South are the speakers, if I remember correctly.
>
>I didn't hear "dip" or "dipshit" till about 1970 or so.
>
>More notable recollections, Wilson. I'm promoting you to Consultant.
>
>JL
>
>Wilson Gray wrote:
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>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Wilson Gray
>Subject: FWIW
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>
>In 1950, Earl, a friend from Jefferson City came to St. Louis for a
>visit, bringing with him what was, to us Louietowners, a new
>expression: "I'll be dipped in shit!" A couple of days later, he left,
>taking the expression with him. It didn't catch on in St. Louis and,
>since that time, I haven't heard this expression used by anyone else
>anywhere else on the face of the earth that I've ever been. But, years
>later, when I was in the Army, I heard the term "dipshit."
>
>Earl was black, but the G.I.'s that I heard using the term "dipshit"
>were all white.
>
>Now, it seems clear that there must be some connection between "I'll be
>dipped in shit!" and "dipshit." But there's none that I can find. In
>1950, I heard one black guy say "I'll be dipped in shit!" A decade
>[pronounced "dekkid" in St. Louis in those days] later, I heard
>"dipshit" used by hundreds of white guys, but not by any black guys.
>
>Ssup wit dat?
>
>-Wilson Gray
>
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