beezark (1919)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 05:47:35 -0400, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU> wrote:

>"Be(e)zark" (HDAS: "an odd or contemptible man or woman") was recently
>discussed on Ray Davis' Pseudopodium blog:
>
>http://www.pseudopodium.org/ht-20050423.html#2005-05-11
>
>HDAS has it from ca1925 (Damon Runyon, _Poems for Men_).
>
>-----
>1919 _Atlanta Constitution_ 25 May B3/2 THE BUGS have no use for the
>beezark who carries a picture of himself in the back of his watch. It's
>a crippled loving cup that only has one handle.
>["Two and Three: Putting the Next One Over" by Bugs Baer]
>-----

Turns out this was one of Baer's favorite epithets (he was also partial to
calling people "sapp").  Here are two more cites from his column:

-----
1919 _Atlanta Constitution_ 26 May 8/4 Scientists still trying to dope out
how a three-cushion beezark can miss a ball by 11 feet on a 10-foot table.
-----
1919 _Atlanta Constitution_ 29 May 14/4 Saddest thing outside of a wet
straw hat is to marry an old beezark for his money and not get it.
-----

Did Baer coin it, or just popularize it?


--Ben Zimmer