"Spud" as nickname

[Jonathan Lighter]

Undoubtedly a result of the feminist movement.

  (I can't tell if I'm kidding or not....)

  JL

Lynne Murphy <m.l.murphy at SUSSEX.AC.UK> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Lynne Murphy
Subject: Re: "Spud" as nickname
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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
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> ----------------------- Sender: American Dialect Society
>
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: "Spud" as nickname
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
>
> 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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