"Kicks": shoes

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks, Wilson.  Some of the gaps in HDAS quotation paragraphs are real (no cites found), some the result of editorial abridgement. I can't remember which applied to_kicks_.

  I believe your recollection of _stomps_ "antedates" the printed evidence by about 25 years.

  JL


Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: "Kicks": shoes
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There's a gap in HDAS betwen the years 1929 and 1969 for citations of
_kicks_ as "shoes." So, FTHOI, I thought that I'd toss one in from 1958,
found in a verse of the R&B song, "Betty Lou Got a New Pair of Shoes," by
Bobby Freeman:

She cracked up over
The solid fit,
Walking down the street
In her brand-new _kicks_.

Note that the verse also contains an example of "crack up over" as a verb
meaning "be delighted by, be pleased with." In St. Louis, "crack up," in
additon to the usual meanings, could also mean, "burst into laughter" - "he
cracked up behind that" - or "cause to burst into laughter" - "he cracked m=
e
up behind that." Note also the use of "solid" with the meaning "excellent."

In East Texas, "stomps" was used to mean "shoes." The semantic relationship
between "stomps" and "kicks" is obvious.
--
-Wilson Gray




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