tootsie, 1847

[George Thompson]

Well, I had said in the post that it was "an indication that the word" existed and had that meaning, rather than "proof".  "Mrs. Toot-See," mother of the Chinese Lady is the sort of citation that the OED puts into [], which is my ambition for it.

The examples from The Mikado of names based on preexisting English nursery talk are other examples of using an existing word as a comical name.  If we knew Yum-Yum, Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush, we might surmise that there was also a preexisting name Peep-Bo, and particularly, if we had Peep-Bo, but only recorded from 25 years after the Mikado, we would surmise that it too had existed when the Mikado was written.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
Date: Sunday, April 19, 2009 3:37 pm
Subject: Re: tootsie, 1847
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

>         Is this really a reference to a woman, girl or sweetheart in the
> modern sense?  Consider how The Mikado used English nursery talk to name
> its maids of marriageable age, Yum-Yum, Pitti-Sing ("pretty thing"), and
> Peep-Bo, as well as its adult men, Pooh-Bah and Pish-Tush.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of George Thompson
> Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 11:38 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: tootsie, 1847
>
> In the summer of 1847, a Chinese junk, with a Chinese crew, though owned
> and captained by an Anglo -- I forget whether American or English --
> sailed into NY harbor, and was a tourist attraction for several months.
> Among its other benefits, it offered newspaper editors a chance to show
> off their gift for whimsicality, as for instance a report of a banquet
> served on board, but not of traditional Chinese grub, since there was
> no
> dog or rat.
>
> Another effort to be amusing included an indication that the word
> "tootsie", meaning "a woman, girl or sweetheart" (OED's sense 2) is
> nearly 50 years older than the OED's 1895.
>         "Mrs. Toot-See," mother of the Chinese Lady.
>         N-Y Daily Tribune, August 10, 1847, p. 2, col. 4
>
> OED shows its sense 1, "a child", from 1854.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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