[Ads-l] Kicks

[Robin Hamilton]

HDAS has:    KICK n3.d usually pl. a shoe [with citations from 1897].

GDoS has:    KICKS n2 (US black /campus) shoes; in later usage, spec. 
athletic shoes [with citations from 1895].

Perhaps relevant is the earlier (cant) KICKS=breeches (from 1699), later 
(and I think more commonly) KICKSIES (from 1703).

With regard to Wilson's 'stomps', there is the early cant term 
STAMPERS=shoes from 1566.  GDoS has an entry for STOMPERS / STOMPS=shoes, 
with the earliest citation in the form STOMPS, from 1741.

I suspect that the nineteenth century and later versions of STOMPS / KICKS 
arise independently of the earlier cant STAMPERS / KICKS : KICKSIES, 
reverse-engineered from the verbs to KICK and STAMP (STOMP).

Robin Hamilton

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-----Original Message----- 
From: Wilson Gray
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2015 5:05 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Kicks

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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Kicks
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Well, she cracked up over
The solid fit
Walkin' down the street
In her brand new _kicks_
- "Betty-Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes"
Written and recorded by Bobby Freeman, 1958

Used as a slang term for "shoes" in BE since the '40's, at least. (I don't
have HDAS ready to hand.) A semantic variant is "stomps," with the same
meaning.

On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 11:42 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Kicks
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Just wanted to do a quick check on status of "kicks". I vaguely recall it
> being used as a soccer/football (any football) reference to specialized
> shoes/cleats. For example, one of the texts messages duplicated in the
> Wells Report referred to "kicks" (there's some dispute as to whether this
> was code for specific pressure or actually a request for a pair of signed
> shoes).
>
> But, at least for the past year or two, I keep hearing it used as a
> reference to any shoes. Just got a Target email, promoting "All kicks on
> sale".
>
> I'm sure Jon and Ben are keeping track of this. Was it always a reference
> for all shoes or did it evolve?
>
> VS-)
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
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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