Daily Candy Lexicons I, II, III

[Dennis R. Preston]

I always took it as a genitive (and I heard it in the 50's).

dInIs


         [Barry P]
#> #DAILY CANDY LEXICON III (June 17, 2002)
#> #
#> #"I smoke O.P.'s." As in "I smoke other people's cigarettes."

         [Mark M]
#> I heard this one at least as early as late sixties. It reminds me of:

         [Jesse S]
#HDAS has this to 1929, and "O.P." (not with the genitive) from decades
#earlier.

I take the /-z/ as plural, as in "Marlboros", not genitive.

-- Mark M.

--
Dennis R. Preston
Department of Linguistics and Languages
Michigan State University
East Lansing MI 48824-1027 USA
preston at pilot.msu.edu
Office: (517)353-0740
Fax: (517)432-2736