Antedating of " Pinko"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 1/14/06, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

> "fatso" < "fat" involves a different readjustment (OK, a bit ad hoc),

No ad-hoc readjustment needed -- "Fatso" < "Fats" = nickname for fat person.

By the way, OED2/MWCD11 date "fatso" to 1944, but the first famous
bearer of the nickname was Fatso Dolan, a character in AD Carter's
comic strip "Just Kids", syndicated nationally from 1922 or 1923.
Fatso's friend Mush Stebbins would often yell, "Hey Fatso!"

http://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/carter_a.htm
http://www.marklansdown.com/pinbacks/pages/fatso.html
http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=2361&si=126

(Carter had done an earlier strip in 1916 called "Our Friend Mush",
but I don't know if Fatso appeared in that one.)

The early popularity of "Mush" and "Fatso" was evident in the _Lima
(Ohio) News_, May 15, 1924, p. 14/1. Two girls, aged 12 and 14, used
those names as pseudonyms when writing into Susie Smart's advice
column.


--Ben Zimmer