Speaking of "gay," etc.

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Dookie chain," meaning a meretriciously thick gold chain worn by rappers and drug dealers, was, I think, the usage that dumped "dookie" into general pop culture.  IIRC, it was in the very early '90s.  (Am too lazy/busy to check HDAS.)

JL

"Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Mullins, Bill"
Subject: Re: Speaking of "gay," etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wilson Gray [mailto:wilson.gray at RCN.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2004 2:00 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Speaking of "gay," etc.
>

>
> On the other hand, HDAS does have "dookie" and DARE doesn't.
> Until very recently, when I heard it used by adults on the
> Jerry Springer show, I thought that dookie was a children's
> "bad word" used only in East Texas. Needless to say, I was
> surprised to see it in HDAS. Either the word has spread far
> and wide since the '40's or my never having heard the word
> used outside of East Texas until a couple of years ago was a
> complete accident.
>

The punk band Green Day had a best selling album called "Dookie" in 1994;
that probably pushed the word into greater usage.


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