change from the bottom up was re: accusative cursing

James Harbeck jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA
Sat Apr 21 21:21:06 UTC 2007


>I, OTOH, have never come across "es oh you el" before, only "ess oh
>el.". And I've heard "SOL" expanded only as "shit outta luck." FWIW,
>I've long been under the impression that "shit outta luck" is the
>antecedent of "SOL." However, I admit my impressions have turned out
>to be wrong on all-too-many other occasions.

I've also always been under the impression that "shit outta luck" is
the antecedent of "SOL." I'm inclined to disbelieve other etymologies
for SOL until such time as persuasive documentation is produced for
them. On the other hand, the phrase "shit outta luck" itself pleads
for some explanation... Use of "shit" in this manner (replaceable by
"plain," "plumb," "totally," etc.) is not a normal idiom in the
dialects I'm used to.

James Harbeck.

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