Wuss

[Alice Faber]

>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