basketball "length" (was Re: Vals Kilmer)

Tue Apr 4 02:31:02 UTC 2006

Most likely: "Linky"from "lanky."

Gerald Cohen
P.S. Thanks for the answers to slang T.L.

> ----------
> From:         American Dialect Society on behalf of Douglas G. Wilson
> Sent:         Sunday, April 2, 2006 10:32 PM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
> >"Lengthy"?  I wonder whether that might have been the ultimate source of an
> >annoying nickname, "Linky," that I - 6' 4" and a very slim 160 lbs. - was
> >once saddled with in St.
> >Louis. I could never make any sense of "Linky," but, if that originated as
> >"Lengthy,"
> >then it makes sense.
>
> Could be from "skinny malink[y]" (also "skinnylinky" etc.) maybe.
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>
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