Wuss

Alice Faber afaber at MAIL.WESLEYAN.EDU
Wed Feb 2 03:59:38 UTC 2000


>Greg Austin <PorchGreg at AOL.COM> writes
>
> >>>
>In a message dated 2/1/00 1:52:44 AM Eastern Standard Time, Bapopik at AOL.COM
>writes:
>
><< "Wuss"/"Wussy" is not in Peter Tamony's word list.  That's not to say
> Robert Chapman's "1960s" dating is incorrect, but it probably means that a
> dating around 1975-1980 is more likely. >>
>
>This is rediculous blindness to reality.  Almost anyone growing up in the
>60's remembers hearing and using the term, regardless of when someone first
>documented its use in print, it was in very common usage in the mid '60's, at
>least by people my age.
><<<
>
>I grew up in the sixties and I don't remember it.
>
>Let's try to be at least a little scientific. "Growing up in the
>60's" *where*?
>I grew up in NYC, graduating high school in 1965. And you?
>
I grew up in the NY suburbs and graduated high school (*not* "from
high school"!) in 1970. My first recollection of "wuss" dates from
the mid-80s when I was teaching at the University of Florida. I know
which student used it, so I could probably narrow this down. This
particular student was also from the NY suburbs and probably would
have graduated from high school around 1982.

Alice Faber



More information about the Ads-l mailing list