Unfamiliar slang term

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Fri Feb 29 20:52:45 UTC 2008


FWIW, HDAS has syn. U.S. "dodger" from 1888, but not much since.

  JL

Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jesse Sheidlower
Subject: Re: Unfamiliar slang term
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 10:11:09AM -0500, Wilson Gray wrote:
> The quote is the set-up to the punchline of a joke. The word's meaning
> is clear. The question is whether anyone has ever come across the term
> elsewhere. The situation entails a wronged husband giving directions
> to a hit-man:
>
> "I want you to shoot my cheating wife in the head. The guy, I want him
> alive, but
> can you shoot his _todger_ off?"

This is extremely common in British English. OED has an entry with a
first cite of 1986.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



More information about the Ads-l mailing list