s---k pot, 1805 (?)

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Mon Sep 6 19:17:52 UTC 2010


Alan Hartley pointed out to me the following:

>>might "s---k" have been "stink-pot"?
>
>I think so. At the verb "stink", the OED says "Now implying violent
>disgust on the part of the speaker; in ordinary polite use avoided
>as unpleasantly forcible." One of my grandmothers refused to use the word.

I assume his grandmother was not as far back as 1805, but perhaps the
editor of the newspaper had the same delicacy.  (Now if his
grandmother had served aboard a British or American naval vessel, it
would be a different story.)

Joel

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list