bardacious (= bodacious??)

[Wilson Gray]

On 1/18/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: bardacious (= bodacious??)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The word gained a new lease on life from the 1982 movie _An Officer and a Gentleman_ via the phrase "bodacious tatas."
>
>   If memory serves.
>
>   JL


Likewise, if memory serves, "bodacious" was a word that commonly fell
from the lips of the sidekick, e.g. Gabby Hayes, in horse operas of
the '40's. That this word ever had any special connection to black
Americans comes as a surprise bordering on shock. I've never heard it
used by anyone in real life, not even jokingly. One never knows, do
one?

-Wilson

>
> "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC"
> Subject: Re: bardacious (= bodacious??)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> OED has:
> bodacious, a. U.S. dial. Complete, thorough, arrant. Also as adv
> 1845 W. T. THOMPSON Chron. Pineville 178 She's so bowdacious
> unreasonable when she's raised.
>
> I'm not sure if the following cite matches the definition above, or the
> 1976 OED sense ("Excellent, fabulous, great. ")
>
> "CUBS WIN, 3 TO 1, AND START EAST." by CHARLES DRYDEN
> Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1963); May 6, 1907; pg. 6 col 1.
> "Overall was good, so was the descendant of kings, and the fielding was
> bodacious if anybody knows what that means." ["Overall" was Orval
> Overall ; "descendant of kings" was Charles Phillippe.]
>
> And to further confuse matters, see this cite, later from the same year,
> by the same writer:
>
>
> "SOX WIN A WEIRD GAME, 16-2" CHARLES DRYDEN. _Chicago Daily Tribune_ Aug
> 20, 1907, pg. 7 col 2.
> "No wonder the heavens cracked open and the rain descended in bodacious
> torrents."
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society
> > [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Benjamin Zimmer
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 4:55 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: bardacious (= bodacious??)
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
> > Subject: Re: bardacious (= bodacious??)
> > --------------------------------------------------------------
> > -----------------
> >
> > On 1/18/06, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:
> > >
> > > OED does not list bardacious, and has 1976 for this sense
> > of bodacious.
> >
> > DARE's got it from 1908, but with a rather different sense:
> >
> > 1908 _DN_ 3.292 eAL, wGA, _Bodacious_ ... Bold,
> > unceremonious, outright. Also _bardacious_.
> >
> > > "FEDERAL FROLICS" New York | Barnard Bulletin | 1937-11-05
> > p. 2 col 4.
> > > "A DICTIONARY OF SLANG WORDS and phrases is being complied
> > by the WPA
> > > Federal Writers' Project, and they want help. . . . From
> > Harlem come
> > > words like "bardacious" (marvelous)."
> >
> > This might relate to the 1935-36 cites I found for
> > "bodacious" with senses ranging from 'daring' to 'attractive'...
> >
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0504E&L=ADS-L&P=R86
> >
> >
> > --Ben Zimmer
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Photos – Showcase holiday pictures in hardcover
>  Photo Books. You design it and we'll bind it!
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org