"blimp"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>The Shortt story (errk) and the Cunningham onomatopoeic version
>mentioned by Jonathon Green seem to be the most popular ....

Partridge likes the "B-type airship - limp" story. Hendrickson likes the
Cunningham story.

The "type B: limp" story can be taken seriously (IMHO) only if there is an
independent early citation of the designation "limp" for airships: is
there? My Web search turns up the term "limp" applied to an airship only in
connection with the "blimp" etymological story. The usual airship type
designations are "rigid", "semirigid", and "nonrigid". The effective blimp
of course is not limp -- it is inflated. A limp airship is one which is
hors de combat, I would think, and I wonder whether military terminology
would be friendly to such a description.

I suppose Colonel Blimp's name is based on the blimp -- i.e., he is a
windbag, I guess. But I note that there is a real surname Blimpton, old
although not very common ... its form suggests a place-name. One might
consider the possibility of the blimp being named after a man or a place,
perhaps.

The onomatopoeia story sounds believable but difficult to verify.

-- Doug Wilson