Is Evel Knievel a Pimp?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks, John, but "potentially" is the key word here.  Or they might simply have wanted to be outrageous.  Hundoubtedly their existenec helped promote the word (which is an adj. as well as a noun).

JL

"Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Baker, John"
Subject: Re: Is Evel Knievel a Pimp?
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There is indirect evidence that its use in the music world is older than that. The Supersonic Soul Pimps were around no later than 1994, and Pimp Daddy was performing by 1993. Their decision to use "pimp" in their stage names suggests that they saw it as at least potentially a term of praise.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 9:43 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Is Evel Knievel a Pimp?


Have recently completed editing of "pimp" for HDAS III. Its current popularity as a term of praise among the nation's youth seems to have begun no later than 1996.

JL


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