"wuss"

[Gerald Cohen]

   Dennis Preston  comments  concerning the appearance of slang items in
print::

>> ...nearly every lexicographer I know admits
>that the first written citation is doubtless "years" after a word came into
>currency....

 ------This is a very risky general rule. "Namby-pamby" originated  in  a
written poem and then spread to the spoken language.  "Shyster" (first
spelled "shiseter") also first arose in print, based on British cant
"shiser" (= somebody worthless), ultimately from German  "Scheisser."
"Skedaddle" (= run away) originated  early in the American Civil War and
very quickly gained currency and  appeared in print.

----Gerald Cohen









gcohen at umr.edu