copacetic?

[Jonathan Lighter]

I have friend from Armuchee, Ga., who observes that it is univerally pronounced "ArMURchee" by the locals.

JL

Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: copacetic?
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FWIW - not much, admittedly, since there's no documentation - I've
always had the feeling that "bullco(r)n" is a kind of euphemism for,
or, perhaps, merely a mishearing of, "bullcome," This latter sounds
like "bullkahm," just as "come," used in both its standard and its
obscene meanings, sounds like "kahm" to the untutored Northern ear.

Since both "bullshit" and the use of "con" as a verb are known to
everyday people, such a person, hearing fresh-off-the-bus Cudn Willih
say "Bullkahm!" in precisely those places in which "Bullshit!" would be
used, overcorrects it to "bullcon," which makes more sense than
"bullcalm" does. And r-insertion is nih 'bout as common as r-deletion.
My mother pronounces "George" as "Jawidge," just as ol' George Foreman
himself, likewise a native of Marshall, Texas, does. But she pronounces
"judge" as "jurge." I've even heard "much" pronounced as "murch" by
Marshallites: Do you know what Besame Mucho (title of a Top-40 song of
the '40's) mean? It mean "kiss me murch."

-Wilson Gray

On Jan 20, 2005, at 9:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: copacetic?
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> "Bullco(r)n" dates from 1890s in print. See HDAS. Ho hum. (But it's
> good to get these later
> examples: "bullcome" is a new one.)
>
> Is anybody familiar with "bullfuck," meaning gravy? It's attested in
> The American Thesaurus of Slang in 1942 (amazingly!).
>
> JL
>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: copacetic?
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> On Jan 19, 2005, at 10:30 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: "Douglas G. Wilson"
>> Subject: Re: copacetic?
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -
>> --------
>>
>> I don't believe the origin of "copasetic" is established, but IMHO it
>> is
>> possible that the original form was "copathetic". This is still is of
>> unknown origin but it has a less opaque form ... one could imagine a
>> fanciful coinage based on "congenial" (or even "cozy") + "sympathetic"
>> perhaps ("a real copathetic place"), for example.
>>
>> "Copathetic" can be found just about as early as any spelling of
>> "copasetic" AFAIK. Phonetically /T/ > /s/ is more likely than /s/ >
>> /T/, I
>> think.
>
> But is this a sound change that one could reasonably expect to occur or
> to have occurred in English, even if, e.g. Robert Johnson's "Stones In
> My Passway" is accepted as derived from "... Pathway"? What are some
> other examples of this change? And it's not unknown for slang terms to
> have local variants. In East Texas, we said "bullcome." I've heard
> "bullcorn" in L.A., though this form is low-rated as being "country
> talk." I first heard a usage close to the "standard" one in St. Louis.
> It was in the punch line of the first shaggy-dog story that I ever
> heard.
>
> A. And you know what was in it?
> B. Naw. What was in it?
> A. All this bull I'm shittin' you! Har! Har! Har!
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
>
>>
>> From N'archive:
>>
>> ----------
>>
>> _Evening State Journal_ (Lincoln NE), 3 Dec. 1919: p. 6, col. 3:
>>
>> <> becomingness of rubber-tired spectacles, "Yas'm," said Mandy, "I
>> think
>> they's becoming 'cep I does think they makes a pusson's face look
>> crowded.">>
>>
>> ----------
>>
>> IMHO this "copathetic" is likely to be the same word as "copasetic".
>> IMHO
>> the context suggests that "copathetic" may have been considered some
>> sort
>> of a shibboleth.
>>
>> -- Doug Wilson
>>
>
>
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