Ofaginzy redux

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

    Yes, of course, "auf fait" was a typo on my part for "au fait." As for the former use of "au fait" (= socially proper, genteel) in the U.S. (Louisiana French, I suppose), I'll send a message on this later today.
 
In haste,
Gerald Cohen, aka G. 

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Laurence Horn
Sent: Tue 3/27/2007 8:04 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Ofaginzy redux



At 7:44 PM -0500 3/27/07, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
>     Here are two relevant articles from Studies in Slang, vol. VI
>(by Gerald Leonard Cohen and Barry A. Popik), Frankfurt am Main:
>Peter Lang, 1999:
>
>1) Gerald Cohen: 'Black slang _ofay_ "white person" derives from
>_auf fait_ "socially proper; genteel",' pp. 48-51.

Jerry, are you really sure it's from the Franco-Prussian "auf fait"?
The simple "au fait" seems a bit more plausible...

LH

>
>2) Gerald Cohen: 'Black slang _ofaginzy_ "white person," pp.52-53.
>
>Gerald Cohen
>
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