origin of "wuss" or "wussie" ??

[James Smith]

My friend named his german shepard Woose - his
baby-word for Wolf - which both I and his sister
thought was funny because he was in effect calling his
dog a "wus".  This was sometime between 1954 and 1960
(I'll look at old photos to see if I can narrow that
down), but I think that "wus" and variants were pretty
well known before the late 60's


--- Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM> wrote:
> What I offer may have NOTHING to do with the word
> "wus, wuss, wussie" that seems to have entered the
> language in the late 1960's/early 1970's to mean a
> person who is a wimp.
>
> I buy things for a living.  Today, someone came in
> with some stamped envelopes/first day covers, etc.
> There was one that caught my eye and I pulled it and
> brought it home.  It MAY solve a puzzle.  Or not.
>
> The cover is dated 1954.  It was issued to
> commemorate a stamp exhibt in Reading, PA.  The
> images on the cover concern the Pennsylvania Dutch,
> and their expressions.  I'll list them verbatim from
> the cover.
>
> "When we try to talk too fancy like, it don't come
> out so good.  But in plain old Pennsylvanina Dutch,
> things sound just like they should." / ''Chakie is
> such a little wutzie."(picture of a Pa-Dutch kid who
> appears to be a 'goody-goody'/ Sarah's spritzin' the
> grass."(picture of a Pa-Dutch-clothed girl watering
> the grass/ "When the little red house comes, the
> train is all."(two Pa-Duch kids watching a train go
> by(caboose=red house?)/ "Chrissley's tooth ouches
> him."Pa-Dutch kid with bandage wrapped around his
> head, containing bad tooth.)
>
> Does the "Chakie is such a little wutzie" mean
> "Jackie is such a wussie" ???????
>
> That's my reading of it.   Any ideas here?
>
> What does/did 1950's Pa-Dutch "wutzie" mean???
>
> Sam Clements


=====
James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.




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