Children's rhymes (1969); Old Maid Lemonade (1878)

[Wilson Gray]

On Feb 10, 2005, at 2:08 AM, 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: Children's rhymes (1969); Old Maid Lemonade (1878)
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> Wilson Gray:
>
>> .... I contend that the spelling should be "boody."
>
> I have the same impression. From my posting here on 27 Sep. 2000:
>
> <<in my boyhood 'boody'/'booty' was an exact equivalent of 'ass': ....
> I
> always assumed this was a corruption of 'body'.>>
>
> Please note that despite the similarity of names we are two distinct
> and
> independent informants.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>

We also agree as to the origin of the word. There was a movie back in
the '40's - I didn't see it myself; so I have no idea whether this
movie was anything like either of the two more recent movies of that
title - called "The Body Snatchers." This led to the invention of a
game called "boody snatcher," which was very similar to the literal
meaning of the modern game of grab-ass.

-Wilson Gray