avoidance

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Sep 5, 2011 at 4:25 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>
> jass-ack for jack-ass
>
>  http://goo.gl/nKFDD
> Pharmaceutical Era (Weekly). Volume 39. April 30, 1908
> Old Codman's Clerks. By Joel Blanc. p. 553/1
>
> "Yes, Joel, it may be as much of a boss problem as it is of a clerk problem,
> > but some of the clerks I have had would stimulate a mixture of profanity and
> > laughter that nothing else could equal. There was not a real scoundrel among
> > them, but if there ever was a brand of dunce or jass-ack that has not
> > worked for me. I'll turn sword-swallower."

I've found examples back to 1872 (early examples clustered in Ohio):

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0412A&L=ADS-L&P=R207

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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