P.E.P.?

[Jonathan Lighter]

I ate Kellogg's Pep well into the 1950s.

  JL

Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: P.E.P.?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During The War, there was a dry cereal named "Kellog's Pep." I also
recall a C&W song with the verse:

Shoutin' out, full o' _pep_
Watch yo' step! Watch yo' step!

Or something like that. I can't recall its date. It was some time
between 1945 and 1955, as a WAG.

-Wilson

On 8/10/07, David Borowitz wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: David Borowitz
> Subject: Re: P.E.P.?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> On 8/10/07, ronbutters at aol.com wrote:
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: ronbutters at AOL.COM
> > Subject: P.E.P.?
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > I was amazed to see that the word "pep" is in use for a new commercial
>
> > product, much less one for erectile disfunction. I got a spam ad today wi=
> th
> > the folllowing testimonial";
> >
> > "I pleased how swiftly P.E.P. worked on my boyfriend, he can no way stop
> > babbling about how hot he is having his new calibre, length, and libido!"
> > Amelia B., Washington
> >
> > Is "pep" making a vernacular comeback? It also occurs to me that some
> > Bulgarian scammer may have selected "pep" from a dctionary without really
> > unbderstanding how dated it is?
>
>
> This is pure speculation, but consider the target audience of erectile
> dysfunction ads. Using a slang term from baby boomers' youth for that kind
> of product could help recall their own younger, more vigorous days. (I say
> this without being particularly confident that the timing matches up.)
>
> Dave
>
> (If Dennis or a,yone needs to see the full ad, I can forward it to
> > individuals")
> > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Dennis Preston

> >
> > Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:35:18
> > To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] The earth v. Earth
> >
> >
> > Colleagues,
> >
> > You all turn out to be right after all; I'm
> > really slow to catch on, and this time it wasn't
> > dialect pronunciation. It took me several
> > milliseconds to correctly (re)process "American
> > mfrs."
> >
> > dInIs
> >
> > PS: Was it a joke in the fist place? Are there
> > other exciting stories about abbreviation
> > ambiguity out there?
> >
> > >---------------------- Information from the mail
> > >header -----------------------
> > >Sender: American Dialect Society
> > >Poster: sagehen
> > >Subject: Re: The earth v. Earth
> >
> > >------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -------
> > >
> > >>
> > >>Of course, I'm abstracting away from the fact that any noun or
> > >>adjective in English can be made proper and, therefore, require
> > >>capitalization, as is the case with Tarzan's son, Boy. OTOH, cf,
> > >>German, in which every noun is capitalized. There's nothing intrinsic
> > >>about this sort of thing.
> > >>
> > >>-Wilson
> > >~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> > >The fastidious French, on the other hand, honor a proper noun by removin=
> g
> > >its capital when it has become so well-incorporated into French life tha=
> t
> > >it is recognized as a fully-fledged French word. American mfrs, with
> > their
> > >jealous & zealous protection of their precious brand names might be
> > >comforted by adopting the French attitude when some miscreant uses, e.g.=
> ,
> > >"kleenex" w/out cap or =C5.
> > >AM
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >~@:> ~@:> ~@:> ~@:>
> > >
> > >------------------------------------------------------------
> > >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >
> > --
> > Dennis R. Preston
> > University Distinguished Professor
> > Department of English
> > Morrill Hall 15-C
> > Michigan State University
> > East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>
> --=20
> It is better to be quotable than to be honest.
> -Tom Stoppard
>
> Borowitz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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