In the news - Tossers and prats need public help

[Wilson Gray]

Come on, Lar! Give us some credit! A and I both recognize bullshit
etymologies when we see them. I'm refusing the Horning, in this case.
:-)

-Wilso


On 1/3/07, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: In the news - Tossers and prats need public help
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 8:37 PM -0500 1/3/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >I've heard that it's from "gardy-loo," a garbling of (Norman-? /
> >Anglo-?)French, _gardez-l'eau!_, "watch [out for] the water!" shouted
> >by people on upper stories to warn passers-by as they emptied their
> >slop jars, also known as "chamber pots," into the street below.
> >
> >-Wilson
>
> These are nice stories (I'm familiar with both, especially Alison's),
> but I figure there's a reason the OED, HDAS, AHD, et al. list it as
> "origin unknown" .
>
> LH
>
> >On 1/3/07, Alison Murie <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:
> >>---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >>-----------------------
> >>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >>Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> >>Subject:      Re: In the news - Tossers and prats need public help
> >>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >>>* Ananova: *    *http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2141954.html?menu=
> >>>Tossers and prats need public help* Jan. 3, 2007
> >>>
> >>>The public are being challenged to find the origins of 40 well-known words
> >>>such as prat, wally and tosser.
> >>>
> >>>Editors of the Oxford English Dictionary also need to source words like
> >>>hoodie, dogging, pole dance, spiv and loo.
> >>  ~~~~~~~
> >>Loo?  It doesn't devolve from "watercloset" by way of "Waterloo"?
> >>AM
> >>
> >>~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>
> >>
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> >>
> >
> >
> >--
> >All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> >come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >-----
> >-Sam'l Clemens
> >
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam'l Clemens

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