scupper, 1917

[JAMES A. LANDAU Netscape. Just the Net You Need.]

On Sat, 5 Jul 2008 at 11:44:50 Zulu minus 0700
Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:


The OED entry needs to be tweaked to accommodate this as a simple
synonym for "kill":

1917 "Sapper" [Cyril McNeile] _No Man's Land_ (London: Stoughton &
Hodder) 132: I hope the old boy hasn't been scuppered.

MY REPLY

MWCD11 has "scupper noun, 15th Century, an opening cut through the bulwarks of a ship so that water falling on deck my flow overboard"
and "scupper  verb, origin unknown, 1899, Brit: to defeat or put an end to, DO IN sense 1a" and 1a is "to bring about the defeat or destruction of, also :kill"

I have no evidence pro or con, but I find it easy to imagine British sailors metaphoring "to be killed" as "to be poured through the scupper".

OT: isn't anyone going to suggest the "frickinfrackin" is a euphemism for "fucking" (adj)?

OT: "fuck about"

>From a song sung in Basic Training in 1969 (undoubtedly much older)

[slowly] I put my hand upon her toe
         She said "hey soldier you're much too low

[quickly]  Push it in push it out
           Quit your fucking about"
           Yo ho yo ho yo ho

I put my hand upon her knee
She said "Hey soldier you're kidding me...

I put my hand upon her twat
She said "Hey soldier you've hit the spot...

(this was the version sung at Fort Knox)

           James A. Landau
           test engineer
           Northrop-Grumman Information Technology
           8025 Black Horse Pike, Suite 300
           West Atlantic City NJ 08232 USA
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RTSDR WYAHJ MDAOT MYBPN
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