benny?

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Benny" has been in use for several decades as a slang term for "a benefit."

HDAS has an illuminating entry.  All households should own at least one copy of the two volumes that have appeared.

JL

Rachel Shuttlesworth <rshuttle at BAMA.UA.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Rachel Shuttlesworth
Subject: benny?
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>From a story in the Chicago Tribune, located at
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/health/chi-0506150258jun15,1,6069459.story?page=2

"We don't really talk about healthy anywhere in our restaurant,"
Hirshberg said. "That's very intentional. Not because it isn't. We want
them to enjoy the food for the food, and then to feel that health is a
benny."

I can find "benny" in the OED meaning overcoat and Benzedrine. Trying to
find other examples of this usage online brings up Benny's Hinn, Hill,
Goodman, etc. I found one case of British slang where "benny" is defined
as losing one's temper
(http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/fullmonty/def/benny.htm). What is its
meaning above? Is it being used to mean "added benefit" or something else?

--
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Dr. Rachel E. Shuttlesworth
CLIR Post-Doctoral Fellow
University of Alabama Libraries
Box 870266, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0266
Office: 205.348.4655/ Fax:205.348.8833
rachel.e.shuttlesworth at ua.edu

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