America's First Rap Song

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Fly" = smart; shrewd; clever; wide awake.

  HDAS takes it back to the early 18th C.  .

  JL

David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: David Bowie
Subject: Re: America's First Rap Song
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From: Jonathan Lighter



> _He's_ fly enough to shut up every boozing ken;

Okay, i know how i would read this nowadays, were it a modern rhyme.
What'd "fly" mean back then, though?



David, who also probably wildly misread "mounting my prad"
--
David Bowie http://pmpkn.net/lx
Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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