to "spit-shine"

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Sat Mar 3 04:19:09 UTC 2007


Here's an earlier one.

Monthly Checklist of State Publications - Page 1105
by Library of Congress. Exchange and Gift Division, Library of
Congress. Acquisitions Dept, Library of Congress. Division of
Documents - _1943_
_Spit-shine_ and double-time: — 'I ...

-Wilson


On 3/2/07, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: to "spit-shine"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Surely, this is way older in print than 1967! Or even 1958!
>
> Look Out Below!: A Story of the Airborne by a Paratrooper Padre - Page 210
> by Francis L. Sampson - _1958_ - 234 pages
>
> Saint Michael seems to be expecting them, for he himself is wearing
> the famed "jump
> boots" with a "_spit shine_". ...
>
> IAC, it's possible to "spit"-shine footwear using only shoe polish,
> one's fingertips, and a little plain water. There's no need to be so
> gross as to use actual spittle.
>
> -Wilson
>
>
> On 3/2/07, 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:      to "spit-shine"
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Amazingly not in OED, which lacks the noun as well:
> >
> >   1967 in Bill Frey _Letters from 'Nam_  (N.Y.: Warner Books, 1992) 23: You wouldn't recognize your spit-shined Paratrooper.
> >
> >   JL
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> >  Get your own web address.
> >  Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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
>
> Dope wil get you through times of no money better than money will get
> you through times of no dope.
> -----
>                                          -Free-Wheeling Franklin
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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

Dope wil get you through times of no money better than money will get
you through times of no dope.
-----
                                         -Free-Wheeling Franklin

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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