"as lousy as a coot"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Yeah, Wilson. But figuratively.

JL

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 4:42 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "as lousy as a coot"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> So, "cootie" was originally short for "coot"? ;-)
>
> -Wilson
>
> On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 10:26 AM, Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
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> > Sender: Ā  Ā  Ā  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: Ā  Ā  Ā  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject: Ā  Ā  Ā Re: "as lousy as a coot"
> >
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> >
> > So the etymology may not be very exotic after all.
> >
> > Slightly earlier exx. of Ā "coot," also British:
> >
> > 1915 (Apr. 22) in Ā Harold Chapin _Soldier and Dramatist: Being the
> Letters
> > of...[an] American Citizen who Died for England at Loos on September 26,
> > 1915_ (London: John Lane, 1917) 141: Two of the four Corporals have
> > celebrated the occasion by "going cooty," otherwise declaring possession
> of
> > one or more lice and being quarantined in the scaby ward. Ā  (Sept. 17)
> Ibid.
> > 270: Willet...grappling with an enormous "coot" (otherwise louse).
> >
> > In April, 1915, Chapin was a member of the 6th Field Ambulance of the
> Royal
> > Army Medical Corps stationed near Givenchy.
> >
> > "Coot" was also a frequent synonym in the U.S. Army. I'd hastily assumed
> it
> > was short for "cootie," but perhaps the opposite was originally true.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
> >
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> >> Sender: Ā  Ā  Ā  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster: Ā  Ā  Ā  Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> >> Subject: Ā  Ā  Ā "as lousy as a coot"
> >>
> >>
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> >>
> >> Google Books gives 22 hits for "as lousy as a coot" up to "1916."
> >>
> >> Stephen Goranson
> >> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
> >>
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>
> --
> -Wilson
> ā€“ā€“ā€“
> 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.
> -----
> -Mark Twain
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