[Ads-l] antedating "flyboy" 'aviator' (sort of)

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Jun 25 01:01:43 UTC 2020


Similarly:

 1911 _Hutchinson [Kans.] News_ (Aug. 18)  4: Isn't Harry Atwood the fly
boy, though? Doesn't he just cut the capers with his old  aeroplane,
whenever he wants too [sic]?

I find no exx. during World War I.

JL

On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 10:10 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> OK, these are just puns, but they're headed in the Wright direction.The
> new meaning didn't begin to catch on, apparently, till Milton Caniff used
> it in "Terry and the Pirates" on Oct. 20,1940 (and after).
>
> [1909 _Tampa Morning Tribune_ (Aug. 3) 6: While Willie was in Washington
> he allowed President Taft to accompany him to Fort Myer to witness the
> aeroplane flights of the Wright Brothers, and ever since he has labored
> under the delusion that he is an airship. Willie always was a "fly boy"
> anyhow].
>
> [1912 _San Francisco Chronicle_ (July 27) 6: "A FLY BOY. Maud. - What's
> wrong, old girl? Ethel. - It's all about Jack. I asked him to take me up in
> his aeroplane. Maud. - Well? Ethel. - He simply flew at me!  - London
> Opinion.]
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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