Query About "Kicktales"

Fred Shapiro fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Mon Jul 8 02:59:57 UTC 2002


I received this question from a colleague:

> A book of jokes and humorous anecdotes collected by a Richmond
> lawyer, John G. May, Jr., is entitled "Courtroom Kicktales"
> (Charlottesville, VA: Michie, 1964). The author uses "kicktales"
> as a synonym for "jokes" as in "The following three kicktales as
> told by Judge John C. Williams." Have you ever come across this
> expression? It is not in the OED, Lighter, DARE, or several other
> sources. A Google search for "kicktales" produced no hits and
> "kicktale" (singular) produced just one, referring to a part on
> some device for racing in water (I couldn't tell what). I would
> appreciate any information about the word.

I am not familiar with the word; has anyone else encountered it?

Fred Shapiro



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