"Oil as spiritous drink?

[Mark Mandel]

On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 8:59 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> Maybe the oft-inebriated golfer John Daly III would be regarded more
> affectionately if he were known as John ("Oil Can") Daly III.  Ou
> sont les nicknames d'antan?
>
> LH

Struggling vaguely toward on-topic-ness, les nicknames d'antan were
eke-names ("eke" 'addition'), but "an eke-name" became "a nickname",
which OED charmingly calls "a corrupt form".

m a m

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