"Spud" as nickname

[Lynne Murphy]

It's also applied to women named Murphy (at least by Scrabble-playing
Englishmen).  I should know...

Lynne

--On Wednesday, August 9, 2006 5:02 pm -0700 Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

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> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      "Spud" as nickname
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>
> Somewhere I picked up the knowledge that _Spud_ used to be a cliche'
> nickname for men surnamed "Murphy."
>
>   They both mean "potato," get it ?
>
>   Anyway, this may be an early example. I say "appears to be" because the
> character's surname is not indicated. But nearly all the people in this
> book are Irish.
>
>   1905 Owen Kildare _The Wisdom of the Simple_ (N.Y.: Fleming Revell,
> 1905) 175: What are you grinning about, Spud?
>
>   JL
>
>
>
>
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Dr M Lynne Murphy
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language
Arts B133
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QN

phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com

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