-iz(z)- infix

[Mark A Mandel]

On Mon, 3 Mar 2003, Laurence Horn wrote:

#>While to date I have no citations of the -iz infix prior to the
#>1990s, where the use seems to start amongst the hip-hop/rap
#>community and move on to general campus use, might I draw attention
#>to one possible predecessor: the use amongst US carnival workers of
#>the infix -eas, e.g. in ceasarnie (carnie), measark (a mark or
#>sucker), heasar (here), neasix (nix) etc.
#>
#Can I ask how that one is pronounced?  (And does the "-eas-" indicate
#a conventional spelling recorded in texts somewhere?)

That looks like a representation (and the original "-iz" questin
reminded me of an infix "secret language" used by Murray the K (and his
Swingin' Soiree), a disk jockey in NYC in the 60s. That "language" was
called /,mi. at .'z^r'i/ and was formed by infixing /i at z/ before the
stressed vowel of each word: "Murray" => Meosurray, or however you wish
to spell it; I don't know if there was an "official" spelling. Maybe the
/z/ alternated with /s/; I don't remember.

Of course, that tells us nothing about where Murray might have gotten
it, if he did.

-- Mark A. Mandel