"Keep your eye peeled" slight antedating (1848) "keep your eyes skinned" (1831)

[Alison Murie]

On Dec 4, 2009, at 5:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Keep your eye peeled" slight antedating (1848)
> "keep your
>            eyes skinned" (1831)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I still say it.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 5:27 PM, Mark Mandel
> <Mark.A.Mandel at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Mark Mandel <Mark.A.Mandel at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "Keep your eye peeled" slight antedating (1848)
>> "keep
>> your
>>           eyes skinned" (1831)
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> And as for currency, in the '50s and '60s my dad used to tell us to
>> "keep
>> our eyes peeled".
>>
>> m a m
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 5:56 AM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
>>> wrote:
>>
>>> While driving with family members during the Thanksgiving holiday I
>>> was told to keep my eyes peeled for a particular road sign. Back in
>>> 2000 in the ADS list archives Larry Horn wondered about the phrase:
>>> "Can that be right?  Do people really keep their eyes peeled?
>>> pealed?
>>> And why?  I can't find either sense in my AHD!"
>>>
>>> Michael Quinion at World Wide Words discusses the phrase and says,
>>> "The figurative sense of keeping alert, by removing any covering of
>>> the eye that might impede vision, seems to have appeared in the US
>>> about 1850."
>>>
>>> http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-kee1.htm
>>>
>>> ...
~~~~~~~~
My father, b. 1878, used this expression in the '30s & '40s.
AM

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