"Mc-" prefix, 1963

[Alice Faber]

On Grey's Anatomy, McDreamy is the epithet used by the female interns
for one of the older male doctors who is (sometimes) dating one of the
interns. It's not particularly derogatory on the show.

Om the extension of this theme, Stitchy McYarnpants' blog goes back (at
least) to September 2004: http://stitchymcyarnpants.com/moks06/?m=200409 .

Joseph Salmons wrote:
> Actually, there's a whole string of humorous, derogatory McYZ names
> out there. Mr. Verb (http://mr-verb.blogspot.com/) had a piece on
> them this morning, shortly before the first message on this topic
> came through. It's timely since McDonalds reportedly not long ago
> renewed their fight to have 'mcjob' pulled from OED. (My personal
> favorite is a radio show calling Tom Delay "Drunky McPukeshoes".) The
> examples there are almost all political, so a step farther from the
> fastfood chain. They go back a couple of years, at least, I think.
>
> What does McDreamy mean and how is it used? The prefix has taken on a
> pretty negative meaning in basically all of the examples I know of,
> but that doesn't sound obviously negative.
>
> Joe
>
>
> On May 24, 2007, at 9:42 AM, Mark Peters wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Mark Peters <markpeters33 at YAHOO.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "Mc-" prefix, 1963
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---------
>>
>> The Grey's Anatomy McDreamy thing might fit the bill. That's
>> spawned lots of variations on the show and elsewhere.

--
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Alice Faber                                    faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                           tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                        fax (203) 865-8963

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