Tramp Stamp (UNCLASSIFIED)

Wed Jul 23 16:36:36 UTC 2008

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I've looked in a couple of likely places (Newsbank, Proquest,
Newspaperarchive) and can't antedate this.  But I've also heard such a
tattoo called a "California License Plate".

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Baker, John
> Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:39 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Tramp Stamp
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Tramp Stamp
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
>         How old is "tramp stamp," the current term for those
> popular tattoos at the base of a woman's back?  The earliest
> I see is 8/19/2004 from the San Francisco Chronicle
> (Westlaw):  In the Central Valley, writes Lisa Hayes of
> Modesto, they call that tattoo at the base of a woman's spine
> a "tramp stamp."
>
>         That seems rather late, though.
>
>
> John Baker
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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