Not in DARE?

[Wilson Gray]

On Oct 9, 2004, at 5:57 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Not in DARE?
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> I should have read Wilson's post before I redundantly made the same
> etymological suggestion.
>
> JL

Perhaps, but, in any case, you expressed the idea far more eloquently,
elegantly, and clearly than I.

-Wilson

>
> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Not in DARE?
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> cat butter/catbutter : "sleep," in the sense of "brush/rub the _sleep_
> (or any other similar excrescence found in the corners of the eyes or
> caked onto the eyelashes) from one's eyes"
>
> This is - or, at least, was; I haven't actually lived in Texas since
> the middle '50's - the only term used or known by black East Texans for
> this material/phenomenon. In fact, I myself considered "brush the sleep
> from one's eyes" et sim. to be strictly poetic usages, until about ten
> years ago, when I was in my late '50's. One day, I simply flashed on
> the fact that what I knew as "cat butter/catbutter" (I've never seen
> this term in written form) was what other people _literally_ termed
> "sleep."
>
> FWIW, there's a somewhat similar term, "augenbutter," found in German.
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
>
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