GU-geographically undesirable (1971, 1972)

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:03 AM -0400 8/22/04, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>Did I say "G.U." was twenty-five years old? No, it's even older!
>

And it was around in the late '60's in Southern California, which
would--at least speculatively--have been a logical place for the term
to have arisen.  I know from my own experience that it was familiar
in speech, if not writing, by '67 or '68 in the L.A. area, although
possibly not familiar enough to be abbreviated to "G.U." out of
context.  And certainly not as "GOO."

larry

>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/magazine/22ONLANGUAGE.html
>ON LANGUAGE
>Chickspeak
>
>By DANY LEVY
>
>Published: August 22, 2004
>(...)
>Another source of chickspeak is DailyCandy.com, the company I founded some
>four years ago. It's an e-mail newsletter popular with the ''Sex and
>the City''
>set, a sort of virtual clubhouse for fashionistas that reports on trends in
>fashion, culture, food and beauty -- and also publishes occasional lexicons of
>terms coined by staff members or heard along their trendy way. On that note, a
>sampling:
>
>Biphonal adj. Holding multiple phones to your ears or in front of you at the
>same time.
>
>Blamestorming n. A meeting whose sole purpose is to discuss why a deadline
>was missed or a project failed and who was responsible.
>
>Drailing v. E-mailing when drunk -- i.e., drunk e-mailing.
>
>E-mauling v. Stalking someone via e-mail.
>
>Fatkins n. Disciples of Atkins who have taken the ''all the fat you can eat''
>idea to lunatic extremes.
>
>Gu adj. Pronounced ''goo.'' Acronym for geographically undesirable. (''Great
>guy and all, but totally GU -- he lives all the way in Boerum Hill!'')
>(...)
>Dany Levy is the founder and editor in chief of DailyCandy.com, an online
>fashion and style newsletter. William Safire is on vacation.
>
>
>A great ad for Daily Candy. I hope they paid for this...Is Paul McFedries
>still alive? Why didn't he fill in?
>
>
>(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
>Singles Are Big Business in the Catskills; Hotel Cashes In on Singles
>Weekends Hotel Cashes In on Singles
>By Peter Osnos Washington Post Staff Writer. The Washington Post, Times
>Herald (1959-1973). Washington, D.C.: Oct 16, 1972. p. A1 (3 pages)
>Pg. A16: Mostly, the weekenders have sped up the thruway from New York City,
>two or three to a car. But they bus some in also, from places like Washington,
>Baltimore and Boston. "Out of towners," the New Yorkers call them with a
>touch of a sneer, "GU-geograpically undesirable."
>
>
>(WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM) ("geographically undesirable")
>   Advocate  Monday, July 26, 1971 Newark, Ohio
>...N.Y., secretary noted. GUD, that GEOGRAPHICALLY UNDESIRABLE, if you live..
>
>    Chronicle Telegram   Sunday, July 31, 1988 Elyria, Ohio
>...out for men who tell you you're G.U. (GEOGRAPHICALLY UNDESIRABLE) but
>still..
>
>  Washington Court House Record Herald   Wednesday, July 21, 1971 Washington
>Court House, Ohio
>...secretary noted "You're (Jl'D, that's GEOGRAPHICALLY UNDESIRABLE, if you
>live..
>
>  Daily Times News   Thursday, July 22, 1971 Burlington, North Carolina
>...N.Y., noted. "You're ODD, I that's GEOGRAPHICALLY UNDESIRABLE, if you
>live..
>
>  Lima News  Monday, July 26, 1971 Lima, Ohio
>...secretary noted, "You're GUD, that's GEOGRAPHICALLY UNDESIRABLE, if you
>live..
>
>  Van Wert Times Bulletin    Tuesday, August 03, 1971 Van Wert, Ohio
>...secretary noted. "You're GUD, that's GEOGRAPHICALLY UNDESIRABLE, if you
>live..
>
>  Great Bend Daily Tribune   Friday, July 23, 1971 Great Bend, Kansas
>...secretary noted. "You're GUD, that's GEOGRAPHICALLY UNDESIRABLE, if you
>live..