weenie, wonkie (1955), wonk (1956)

[Jonathan Lighter]

larry,

"The / you poor prick !" is discordant for me. So is "...asshole," though maybe less so.  These terms are so strong that they clash with the condescending sympathy of "poor."  "Jerk" and "putz" are quite acceptable here. "Poor tool" sounds possible.

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)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

larry,

I'm not so sure about the *ing of "that poor jerk..." while I
generally agree with the others, although I am surprised at how the
frame "you poor X" considerably widens the acceptability for me.

dInIs



>At 8:48 AM -0500 2/23/05, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>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
>>
>And the 'jerk' meaning doesn't ameliorate toward the pathetic.
>There's a distinction between those "jerk"-type words (jerk, putz,
>prick, asshole) that don't have such a meaning and the ones (schmuck,
>bastard) that do:
>
>the poor {bastard/schmuck}, what could he do?
> (cf. "the poor sap", "the poor shlemihl", etc., which don't have
>the "obnoxious" use)
>vs.
>#the poor {jerk, asshole, putz, prick, tool}, what could he do?
>
>larry


--
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


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less.