poppycock > pappekak (was Re: BULLOCKS - euph/typo/LA pron.?)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 5 May 2005 00:21:58 -0400, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:

>>And I'm sorry to report that my big Nederlands Koenen (M.J. Koenen &
>>J.B. Drewes, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal, 27th
ed.) >>gives no evidence of a word *pappekak, *pappenkak, *papkak or any
other
>>compound of pap and kak in contemporary Dutch. So I guess the etymology
>>of poppycock will have to be sought elsewhere.
>
>This has been discussed on newsgroups alt.usage.english and nl.taal.
>Not only are "pappekak" and "papkak" unknown in contemporary Dutch but
>apparently they are absent from all forms of Dutch back to 1500
>according to some Dutchman who checked the humongous Van Dale historical
>dictionary. Of course I don't vouch for the accuracy of anything in
>newsgroups, but if one shows a Dutch word as an etymon I think he takes
>some responsibility for showing that it exists or existed or at least
>probably existed, and I don't see anybody presenting any such evidence,
>at a glance.

Was _Webster's New International 2nd Edition_ (1934) the first reference
to suggest the _pappekak_ etymology?  Mencken, in the 4th edition of _The
American Language_ (1936), said this derivation "seems silly".  But he was
equally skeptical of the etymology given by the 1893 _Standard
Dictionary_, where it's derived from _pop_ (v.) + _cock_ (n.).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0394400755/?v=search-inside&keywords=pappekak

By the way, I'm sure the next round of OED revisions will include this
antedating (OED2 has 1865):

-----
1852 _New York Times_ 28 Jul. 2/5 "Justice," said the policeman ... "I'm
blamed if this will do." "Poppycock," answered the Justice, "it's all
right; sit down and mingle."
-----


--Ben Zimmer