"coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910

[Bill Palmer]

I lived in E Texas, near Beaumont, for a few years in the early 1950s.
"Coonie" was what all people from Louisiana were called....short for
"coon-ass", I believe.

Bill Palmer


----- Original Message -----
From: "Darla Wells" <lethe9 at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 10:24 PM
Subject: Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910


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> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Darla Wells <lethe9 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Growing up, my stepmother from East Texas used to get really angry because
> the family nicknamed her Coonie as a child because she loved eating
> raccoon.
> Darla Wells
>
> 2010/2/3 Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> That's my guess, especially now that I see several dozen GB hits for "sly
>> old coon."
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 9:25 PM, DanG <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
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>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       DanG <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910
>> >
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> >
>> > >---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > >Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > >Subject:      Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910
>> >
>> >
>> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > >
>> > >HDAS has _coony_, "sly," from 1899.
>> > >
>> >  >JL
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 8:21 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>> > >
>> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > >> -----------------------
>> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > >> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> > >> Subject:      Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > >>
>> > >> Alison, apology accepted.  But as to bald like a raccoon, I have
>> > >> that
>> > >> on the best authority -- the OED's definition of "coony a.", under
>> > >> "coon, n."  ... Oops, perhaps they're wrong -- they've spelt it
>> > "racoon"!
>> > >>  :-)
>> > >>
>> > >> Joel
>> > >>
>> > >> At 2/3/2010 07:02 PM, Alison Murie wrote:
>> > >> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> > >> >>' "bald" like a raccoon??'  Coons ain't bald.  Far from it.
>>  'Possums
>> > >> >>look bald, but aren't.   Perhaps the meaning of "coony" is really
>> > >> >>cunning, which would be more appropriate altogether.
>> > >> >>AM
>> > >> >~~~~~~~~~~
>> > >> >Ooops.  Somehow I missed para 2 in Joel's post.  I'm sorting
>> > >> >through
>> a
>> > >> >mountain of backlogged mail.  I was away from my desk for ten days
>> > >> >getting a bad hip replaced & being whipped into a semblance of
>> > >> >normal
>> > >> >functioning by a crew of therapists.  Medicare is wonderful.  (Only
>> it
>> > >> >didn't get me to read my mail more carefully.)
>> > >> >AM
>> > >>
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>> > >
>> > >
>> > >--
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>> > truth."
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>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
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>
>
>
> --
> If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible
> warning. -Catherine Aird
>
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