Splib

[Wilson Gray]

On Sep 26, 2004, at 5:25 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Splib
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> I am curious as to the origin myself.
>
> I hope Jonathon Green can say something about it. His (Cassell's) slang
> dictionary shows an etymology which I don't understand.
>
> Elsewhere, Chapman's dictionary shows "spade" + "liberal" as the
> etymology

This is so clearly bullshit that it's beyond ridiculous. We don't refer
to ourselves as "spades" and what in the world could a political term
like "liberal" have to do with a word that means "any random black
male" and that is otherwise totally empty of any kind of emotional
coloring, no pun intended? This doesn't even make as much sense as the
bull shitted to that Time reporter back in the '60's.

> ... which doesn't seem likely to me without strong evidence.

I'd be astounded to see any kind of evidence whatsoever in support of
"spade liberal." I haven't seen the etymology proposed by Jonathon. So,
I have no comment on that.

>
> Perhaps HDAS has something.

I'd love to see it.

-Wilson Gray

>
> -- Doug Wilson
>