weenie, wonkie (1955), wonk (1956)

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:48 AM -0500 2/23/05, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>Doesn't this "dull tool" more directly derive from the other, much
>older derisive sense of tool, meaning "something [therefore someone]
>that can be easily manipulated"?
>
>I don't mean to suggest that these tools did not contaminate one another.
>
>
>                  tool=instrument
>                     /\
>                    /  \
>                   /    \
>                penis  easily manipulated person
>                 /        \
>                /          \
>               /            \
>           jerk<-influence->stupid person
>
And the 'jerk' meaning doesn't ameliorate toward the pathetic.
There's a distinction between those "jerk"-type words (jerk, putz,
prick, asshole) that don't have such a meaning and the ones (schmuck,
bastard) that do:

the poor {bastard/schmuck}, what could he do?
     (cf. "the poor sap", "the poor shlemihl", etc., which don't have
the "obnoxious" use)
vs.
#the poor {jerk, asshole, putz, prick, tool}, what could he do?

larry