"Kicks": shoes

[Wilson Gray]

On 12/11/05, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Kicks": shoes
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks, Wilson.  Some of the gaps in HDAS quotation paragraphs are real
> (no cites found), some the result of editorial abridgement. I can't remember
> which applied to_kicks_.
>
>   I believe your recollection of _stomps_ "antedates" the printed evidence
> by about 25 years.
>
>   JL


You mean to say that "stomps" is more than just a bit of local E TX BE
slang?! Well, I declare! I heard it used down home ca.1948. I'm certain that
I've never heard it used anywhere else since and I doubt that I've ever seen
it in print. One never knows, do one?

-Wilson

Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: "Kicks": shoes
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There's a gap in HDAS betwen the years 1929 and 1969 for citations of
> _kicks_ as "shoes." So, FTHOI, I thought that I'd toss one in from 1958,
> found in a verse of the R&B song, "Betty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes," by
> Bobby Freeman:
>
> She cracked up over
> The solid fit,
> Walking down the street
> In her brand-new _kicks_.
>
> Note that the verse also contains an example of "crack up over" as a verb
> meaning "be delighted by, be pleased with." In St. Louis, "crack up," in
> additon to the usual meanings, could also mean, "burst into laughter" -
> "he
> cracked up behind that" - or "cause to burst into laughter" - "he cracked
> m=
> e
> up behind that." Note also the use of "solid" with the meaning
> "excellent."
>
> In East Texas, "stomps" was used to mean "shoes." The semantic
> relationship
> between "stomps" and "kicks" is obvious.
> --
> -Wilson Gray
>
>
>
>
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--
-Wilson Gray