strong like ball

[Jonathan Lighter]

And anyone who can supply 19th C. exx. of "guts" in a figurative sense should please do so.
In the days before search engines and databases, I couldn't find much.

JL

"Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Baker, John"
Subject: Re: strong like ball
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Yes, "guts" used to be considered coarse. Here's an illustrative quotation from Richard Grant White, A Desultory Denunciation of English Dictionaries, in The Galaxy (1869), via Cornell University Making of America:

<>

Here's an 11/22/1928 use of "intestinal fortitude" from the online Harvard Crimson (Merriam-Webster has c. 1937), which also illustrates the point:

<>


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Gordon, Matthew J.
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 7:38 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: strong like ball


I heard a new-to-me phrase on the radio: "testicular fortitude" which I took to be a form of "intestinal fortitude" gone south. The context was a local sports program discussing a particular coach. As expected, Google show 11k hits for it (cf. 63k for "intestinal fortitude").

While I'm at it, I'd always thought of "intestinal fortitude" as a humorously formal alternative to "guts." Does the evidence suggest it arose as a deliberately funny coinage? I see OED has a 1945 citation from Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy.

Also, was "guts" seen as vulgar or coarse at some time? Today it seems mostly just informal.

-Matt Gordon


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