"Scuzzcrack" & "Pimpmobile"

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Scumbag" comes close:

"Isn't he the scuzzcrack who fired you from Yearbook?"..."You fired me, remember? Because you're a scuzzcrack!"

JL
Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: "Scuzzcrack" & "Pimpmobile"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is the meaning of "scuzzcrack"? It's not as obvious as that of
"pimpmobile."

-Wilson

On Feb 3, 2005, at 10:26 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: "Scuzzcrack" & "Pimpmobile"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> The possibility that Wilson may be the inglorious Milton who coined
> "pimpmobile" reminds me that back on Oct. 22 I reported two
> occurrences of the word "scuzzcrack" on CBS's "Joan of Arcadia" that
> evening, a word which had not appeared on the Net or anywhere else
> that I was aware of.
>
> Despite its simultaneous reception in millions of American homes,
> there is still no evidence of wider usage more than 90 days later.
>
> So if Wilson set "pimpmobile" afloat in 1963 without the aid of mass
> media, we reasonably might not expect it to surface till sometime in
> the mid 22nd century.
>
> A quick Google check uncovers about one quarter million examples of
> "pimpmobile" on the Web alone. I am sorry to report, therefore, that
> any claim in favor of Wilson's unique ownership of this word for
> copyright, trademark, or servicemark purposes is likely to be
> staunchly contested.
>
> JL
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: "Dittybop / Dittybopper"
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> On Feb 3, 2005, at 9:38 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>> Subject: Re: "Dittybop / Dittybopper"
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> --------
>>
>> Thanks, Wilson. The military sense must be fairly obscure, since I
>> just discovered it and it seems to go back to the '50s among Morse
>> operators. Pretty expressive, though.
>>
>> As for "pimpmobile," it seems to have taken a full decade for your
>> creation to have reached the print media.
>>
>> JL
>
> You know what gives me the jaws (there's a bit in HDAS about this use
> of "jaws"; can't recall at the moment whether it has this particular
> version) about "pimpmobile"? There's simply no way to find out whether
> I'm really *the* source. It's such an obvious coinage that any number
> of other people could have come up with it any number of times. It's
> even possible that the first person to use the word in print coined it
> independently. Sigh! No 15 minutes of fame for me.
>
> -Wilson
>
>
>> Wilson Gray wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Wilson Gray
>> Subject: Re: "Dittybop / Dittybopper"
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> --------
>>
>> When I was a teenager in the 'Fifties in St. Louis,
>> "dittybop(p)er"/diddybop(per)" was a fairly mild insult that meant
>> something like "wannabe hipster." There was no verb form.
>>
>> Unfortunately, when I was in The War, I didn't have occasion to come
>> into contact with any Morse-code operators. More useless information:
>> when teletypy is heard on a voice channel, it sounds like Morse code
>> to
>> the untutored ear. Or at least it did on the equipment available in
>> the
>> late '50's.
>>
>> -Wilson Gray
>>
>>
>> On Feb 1, 2005, at 8:26 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>>> Subject: "Dittybop / Dittybopper"
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> -
>>> -
>>> --------
>>>
>>> Have discovered that besides their tedious old meanings, so familiar
>>> that I needn't bore you with them, these words have been used in the
>>> military with the senses "high-speed Morse operator" and "high-speed
>>> Morse receiver/transmitter." To "dittybop" also means "to transmit
>>> Morse code at high speed."
>>>
>>> Can any of my distinguished colleagues and consultants add anything
>>> to
>>> the above from personal experience ?
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
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