friend of Dorothy"

[Jonathan Lighter]

The optical-purple cover of Rodgers's book makes it easy to find anywhere.
It seems not have faded after nearly forty years.

"Dorothy" is mentioned allusively, including as a "rare" vocative
("comparable to the 'Buster' of an irritated New York cab driver").

But no "friend of Dorothy."

Surely if Rodgers had known of it, he'd have included it.

JL
On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 5:39 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: friend of Dorothy"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > Cassell's Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green . . . has an entry for
> "Dorothy's friend" but display is blocked
> > in Google Books.
> >
>
> His earliest cite is 1972, from Rodgers" Queens' Vernacular.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.  Working on a new edition, though.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 4:08 pm
> Subject: Re: friend of Dorothy"
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> > The OED has this phrase. I did not see it in the HDAS listed under
> > Dorothy or friend. The first OED citation given in 1972 does not
> > contain the phrase.
> >
> > Dorothy, n.
> > a friend of Dorothy (slang), a homosexual man. Also in similar
> > allusive uses.
> >
> > 1972  B. Rodgers Queens' Vernacular 66   Dorothy and Toto,ĄLany male
> > couple whose effeminate partner is in command. ĄĽWhen's Dorothy and
> > Toto getting here with the chest of drawers?ĄŚ
> >
> > 1984  B. McConville & J. Shearlaw Slanguage of Sex (1985) 82/1
> > Dorothy's friends, the male gay community, from the 50s onwards.
> >
> >
> > The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional
> > English (Google Books preview)
> > friend of Dorothy noun a homosexual. Thought to be from the Judy
> > Garland character in The Wizard of Oz; Garland is a gay icon
> > AUSTRALIA, 1988
> >
> >
> > Cassell's Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green (Google Books preview)
> > Friend of Oscar n. [1920s+] a male homosexual (df. ABIGAIL n.) (the
> > gay icon, playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1901)]
> >
> > Cassell's has an entry for "Dorothy's friend" but display is blocked
> > in Google Books.
> >
> > One book claims that the construction of the term "Friend of Dorothy"
> > was influenced by the term "Friend of Bill" used by Alcoholics
> > Anonymous (founded in 1935), but if Cassell's is correct then perhaps
> > "Friend of Oscar" influenced both "Friend of Bill" and "Friend of
> > Dorothy".
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 9:24 AM, 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: friend of Dorothy"
> > >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Prominent author, too.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 8:50 AM, crawford <neil at typog.co.uk> wrote:
> > >
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender: ?? ?? ?? American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster: ?? ?? ?? crawford <neil at TYPOG.CO.UK>
> > >> Subject: ?? ?? ??friend of Dorothy"
> > >>
> > >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>
> > >> 'Schuyler could not recall seeing his young blond friend at any of
> > the
> > >> masses before tonight, but often there was wholesale confusion and
> > >> resultant
> > >> obscurity. In any case, here he was now, the young friend of a
> > friend of
> > >> Dorothy, perhaps homosexual himself...'
> > >> ~Ed McBain, 'Vespers: a novel of the 87th Precinct', William
> > Morrow, 1990,
> > >> 144
> > >>
> > >> neil at typog.co.uk
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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> > truth."
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