weenie, wonkie (1955), wonk (1956)

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Tool" = penis could have been involved early (sense goes back to ME).

OED's limited evidence suggets that "dull tool" was the original idiom and that "tool" alone is a later development.

JL

"Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"

Subject: Re: weenie, wonkie (1955), wonk (1956)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doesn't this "dull tool" more directly derive from the other, much
older derisive sense of tool, meaning "something [therefore someone]
that can be easily manipulated"?

I don't mean to suggest that these tools did not contaminate one another.


tool=instrument
/\
/ \
/ \
penis easily manipulated person
/ \
/ \
/ \
jerk<-influence->stupid person


dInIs

>OED has "a dull tool" as far back as ca1700, though in a somewhat
>broader sense.
>
>JL
>
>"Dennis R. Preston"
wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"
>
>Subject: Re: weenie, wonkie (1955), wonk (1956)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Arnold's dating looks good to me. In the early 60's one of the kids
>my brother hung around with was nicknamed "the tool" by his buddies.
>It had the sense given here, and I was aware of it earlier. It was
>obvious to us that it was derived from "tool" = "penis," and used
>much in the same way that other penile synonyms were, to belittle or
>discredit the character of one so designated. It appeared to be a
>milder rebuke than many of the others (e.g., prick, dick), perhaps on
>a par with "dork."
>
>dInIs
>
>
>
>>On Wed, 23 Feb 2005, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>
>>> Arnold Zwicky notes in an email that "ayools" is probably a mis-scanning
>>> of "tools", which he recalls being used at Princeton in 1958-62.
>>>
>>> What's the earliest cite for "tool" meaning 'socially inept person' (to
>>> use Connie Eble's definition in _Slang and Sociability_)? Checking
>>> _AmSp_, I find a mention of it all the way back in 1932:
>>
>>When I was a student at MIT in the 1970s, "tool" and "nerd" were the two
>>most common terms for a socially maladept student (a category encompassing
>>nearly all MIT students). "Geek" and "grind" were not used very much
>>there.
>>
>>Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>Fred R. Shapiro Editor
>>Associate Librarian for Collections and YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
>> Access and Lecturer in Legal Research Yale University Press,
>>Yale Law School forthcoming
>>e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu http://quotationdictionary.com
>>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
>Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
>A-740 Wells Hall
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48824
>Phone: (517) 432-3099
>Fax: (517) 432-2736
>preston at msu.edu
>
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
A-740 Wells Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 432-3099
Fax: (517) 432-2736
preston at msu.edu


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