cush(t)y-mush(t)y

[Jonathan Lighter]

A current TV commercial for diapers or something explicitly uses "cushy" as a syn. for "cushiony."

JL

"Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Douglas G. Wilson"
Subject: Re: cush(t)y-mush(t)y
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>... "cushy" (which is of Anglo-Indian origin, from Hindi _khush_ 'pleasure').

So say OED and HDAS and MW3 (not RHUD or AHD however).

Compare "cushy job" [OED, 1916] with earlier "cushiony job" [OED, 1908] in
apparently similar sense.

I suppose there is some evidence to favor "cushy" < Hindi "khush" (=
"happy" or so) over other possibilities, particularly the obvious "cushy" <
"cushiony" < "cushion"?

-- Doug Wilson


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