Elvises -> Elvi(i) PLUS -oon (UNCLASSIFIED)
Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL
Fri Sep 14 16:42:36 UTC 2007
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
> Here's an early and odd parallel:
>
> 1920 Ardern Beaman _The Squadroon_ (London: John Lane) 210:
> "No," said the Skipper, not a hope - if they really mean
> business. All my Hotchki [_sc_. "Hotchkiss guns"] are knocked out.
>
> The British cavalry officers of 1918 who feature in
> Chaplain Beaman's nonfiction account evidently had a thing
> for this sort of thing. Regarding the title of his book,
> Beaman writes (p. 5): "This was my introduction to the
> Squadron, or I should say 'Squadroon,' as at this time, for
> some reason of unknown origin, we pronounced all words ending
> in 'on' as 'oon.'"
>
> The only other ex. I note given in the book is this (p.
> 60): "What a delicious smell of barkoon [_sc_. "bacon"],"
> said the Skipper, sniffing appreciatively.
>
> One thinks of the app. later American slang term "maroon,"
> for "moron."
>
> J
Other denigrating "-oon" words: buffoon, octoroon/octoon, quadroon,
poltroon, picaroon, quintroon
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
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