good people (1894)
Jonathan Lighter
wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Wed Nov 8 01:17:54 UTC 2006
HDAS III will offer,
1891 J. Maitland Slang Dict. 201: He is great people, is used in a commendatory sense of anyone.
JL
Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> wrote: ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Benjamin Zimmer
Subject: good people (1894)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathon Green previously found "good people" (used for an individual)
back to 1896:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0405c&L=ads-l&P=3773
Here it is in an 1894 list of New York slang terms in the Milwaukee
Journal ("Street Slang Up To Date," reprinted from the New York
World):
-----
1894 _Milwaukee Journal_ 10 Feb. 6/4 "Good people" is a universal
expression applied alike to an individual and a company. It means a
good fellow or a crowd of good fellows.
[19th C. US Newspapers]
-----
--Ben Zimmer
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
---------------------------------
Sponsored Link
Mortgage rates near 39yr lows. $420,000 Mortgage for $1,399/mo - Calculate new house payment
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list