Green Day (was Speaking of "gay," etc.)

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 23, 2004, at 1:13 PM, Jeff Prucher wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jeff Prucher <jprucher at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Green Day (was Speaking of "gay," etc.)
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> --- Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Green Day (was Speaking of "gay," etc.)
>>
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>> On Sep 22, 2004, at 10:31 PM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: Speaking of "gay," etc.
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>>> --
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>>> I think the main term for the described item is "rope"; I
>>> don't think _dookie chain_ is is what popularized _dookie_
>>> itself. The Green Day album seems more likely a candidate.
>>
>> But this raises (okay, I admit it: I did consider using "begs") a
>> couple of other questions. How did Green Day come to know "dookie"?
>> And
>> did they use it to mean "excrement"?
>>
>
> In response to your first question, it's probably impossible to know
> for sure,
> but considering that it seems to have been fairly wide-spread (reports
> from
> East Texas and the Pacific NW so far, and I knew it in Michigan in the
> 70s &
> 80s) it doesn't seem unlikely to me that three guys from the East Bay
> knew the
> term, too.  I always assumed they used it to mean excrement (they are
> a punk
> band after all) but I don't know for sure.
>
> Jeff Prucher

Okay, I'll buy that. Sounds very reasonable. FWIW, I know Green Day
only by name, never having heard a single note of their music. Since
they're featured at the Apple Music Store this week, I think I'll check
them out.

-Wilson Gray

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