performance/preformance

[Joe Pickett]

My guess is that wuss began showing up in the early 70s, since I first heard it
used in Ann Arbor in 1976.

But Barry will probably find cites from the 1920s.


Joe Pickett






Lynne Murphy <lynnem at COGS.SUSX.AC.UK> on 01/31/2000 11:35:31 AM

Please respond to American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>

To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
cc:    (bcc: Joe Pickett/Trade/hmco)
Subject:  Re: performance/preformance



I'm writing to this list a bit too much today, but...

A colleague here wants to know when the pejorative epithet 'wuss' entered
American English.  If you've got any etymology, that might be fun too.

Thanks in advance,
Lynne