Loogie (1985)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Baseball's had an acronymic "loogy" for a few years now:

  http://groups.google.com/group/alt.sports.baseball.pitt-pirates/msg/3348434269a2eddb

  At least it seems to be a genuine acronym....

  JL


Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Dave Wilton
Subject: Loogie (1985)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the sense of a wad of phlegm, HDAS has 1988:

San Francisco Chronicle, 27 April 1985, "A Sci-Fi Horror Surprise," p. 38:
"In the middle of a French kiss, she slips a killer loogie into his face."

(Technically, this article uses "loogie" to refer to a phlegm-like alien
creature, not a wad of human phlegm, but the writer assumes the readers know
what a loogie is.)

I'm sure earlier citations are out there. I recall the term from my high
school days several years before this.

I've also found several much earlier citations of "Loogie" being used as a
nickname. The reference in these cases is unclear.

--Dave Wilton
dave at wilton.net

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



---------------------------------
Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+ countries) for 2¢/min or less.

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