New retroacroetymythostupidnym

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Aug 22, 2005, at 10:10 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:

> On Tue, 23 Aug 2005 00:29:03 -0400, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>
>
>>> 1)  Derived from a Tagalog word for "prostitute," which also led
>>> to the
>>> term "poagie bait," which refers to candy bars, soda, ice cream,
>>> etc.
>>>
>>> 2)  Derived from the acronym POG (Person Other than Grunt).
>>>
>>> I doubt the latter explanation, simply because popular entymology is
>>> frequently wrong when concerned with acronyms ....
>>>
>>
>> Absolutely right to doubt these IMHO.

does no one know that the pogey is also a fish?  the word denotes the
menhaden or some closely related fish.

this might help making sense of "pogey bait", no?

arnold