[Ads-l] what's the latest [,] dope/poop/skinny?

Fri Aug 30 20:05:00 UTC 2019

Garson,  that seems to be the glossary appearing in Lee's "Fag-Ends."

The book's pub date is 1878, but the copyright is 1877.

Significantly, even if P. J. Dashiell was still in school in 1877, Lee
alludes to a professor nicknamed "Skinny" on p. 41.

JL

On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 1:43 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Below is a link to a page in "The United States Army and Navy Journal"
> that lists a collection of 1878 slang. This is later than JL's first
> citation, but it is interesting because is provides a definition for
> "skinny" and many other terms.
>
> Date: Jan 19, 1878
> Periodical: The United States Army and Navy Journal and Gazette
> Quote Page 375
> Database: HathiTrust
> Publication Office, New York
>
> https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924069759979
> https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924069759979?urlappend=%3Bseq=385
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> TECHNICAL EXPRESSIONS
> IN USE AT THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY
> Compiled for “Fag Ends," and Considered Complete.
> . . .
> Skeedool-Called by the outside world schedule.
> Skinny—Any study in the Department of Physics and Chemistry.
> Skylarking—Scuffling; playing.
> Smoke—A class book.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Here is a link to a HathiTrust catalog page listing earlier issues of
> the journal. I was too lazy to search them for "skinny".
> https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008898673
>
> Garson
>
> On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 11:58 AM Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 1877 Homer Lee _Fag-Ends from the Naval Academy_  [N.Y.: Homer Lee, 1877]
> > 32:  Just bone up on your "Skinny" and let the youngsters be.
> >
> > 1894 _Lucky Bag_ [USNA] I 68: Skinny. Physics and chemistry.
> >
> > Etc.
> >
> > 1991 Merrill L., Bartlett _Lejeune: A Marine's Life_ [Columbia: U. of
> S.C.
> > Press] 28 : Chemistry and physics [were] called "skinny" after the
> > legendary and popular professor. Paul J. Dashiell.
> >
> > A search at HathiTrust shows that Dashiell was still an undergraduate at
> > St. John's College, Annapolis, in 1880, so he couldn't have inspired the
> > word "skinny" at the Academy in the 1870s.
> >
> > As "facts or news," it's very rare in print until the 1960s or '70s,
> often
> > as "the straight skinny" or, rarely, "skinnay,"
> >
> > Earliest: 1938.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 8:47 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > > These three can all sometimes mean, more or less, information.
> > > Though "red mike" apparently became specialized slang in the Naval
> > > Academy, the following might could be a case of USNA slang influencing
> a
> > > later (broadening?) development.
> > >
> > > The 1940 Lucky Bag yearbook uses "skinny" five times.
> > >
> > > https://archive.org/details/luckybag1940unse<
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_luckybag1940unse&d=DwMFAg&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=qwwcnEh0SDhYkAO4qMBwW4xEtiaPWhXfdFqgH4eOSPY&s=hY4Vm5TQcZdx81ot3kJxhw4s2Byuj49C8crkmJb1TDU&e=
> > > >
> > >
> > > The mid-right photo caption is about solving a skinny problem, at a
> desk,
> > > in a classroom, with a slide rule in his pocket..
> > >
> > > https://archive.org/details/luckybag1940unse<
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_luckybag1940unse&d=DwMFAg&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=qwwcnEh0SDhYkAO4qMBwW4xEtiaPWhXfdFqgH4eOSPY&s=hY4Vm5TQcZdx81ot3kJxhw4s2Byuj49C8crkmJb1TDU&e=
> > > >
> > >
> > > The Wm. Game text has skinny as an academic department.
> > >
> > > https://archive.org/details/luckybag1940unse<
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_luckybag1940unse&d=DwMFAg&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=qwwcnEh0SDhYkAO4qMBwW4xEtiaPWhXfdFqgH4eOSPY&s=hY4Vm5TQcZdx81ot3kJxhw4s2Byuj49C8crkmJb1TDU&e=
> > > >
> > >
> > > "skinny kept him from athletics," apparently meaning low grades
> prevented
> > > him from participating in (varsity?) athletics.
> > >
> > > https://archive.org/details/luckybag1940unse<
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_luckybag1940unse&d=DwMFAg&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=qwwcnEh0SDhYkAO4qMBwW4xEtiaPWhXfdFqgH4eOSPY&s=hY4Vm5TQcZdx81ot3kJxhw4s2Byuj49C8crkmJb1TDU&e=
> > > >
> > >
> > > His math and skinny were a breeze because of earlier college courses,
> in
> > > contrast to other academic (humanities, bull and dago) departments.
> > >
> > > https://archive.org/details/luckybag1940unse<
> > >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__archive.org_details_luckybag1940unse&d=DwMFAg&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=qwwcnEh0SDhYkAO4qMBwW4xEtiaPWhXfdFqgH4eOSPY&s=hY4Vm5TQcZdx81ot3kJxhw4s2Byuj49C8crkmJb1TDU&e=
> > > >
> > >
> > > The hop (dance) was the end of math and skinny--so a change of pace.
> > >
> > >
> > > "Skinny" here may mean hard sciences (Physics et sim).
> > >
> > >
> > > Stephen Goranson
> > >
> > > http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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