If U Seek Amy

[Randy Alexander]

On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> What to make of the song "If You See K" by R[eginald] Spofforth,
> listed in the _Catalogue of the Allen A. Brown Collection of Music in
> the Public Library of the City of Boston_ (1916)?
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=MEAQAAAAYAAJ&q=if-you-see-k
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>

That's a hard call without at least seeing the lyrics.  Anyone in
Boston feel like making a trip to their fine public library?  It's a
great place.  I spent many happy hours there as an undergrad.  Their
music collection is fabulous.

In the meantime, I contacted a BPL librarian (they have a 24hr chat
service).  She couldn't find anything yet, but said she'd get back to
me by email.

According to WP, Reginald Spofforth died in 1827, so if he was
deliberately playing on FUCK, that would be quite an early use.

--
Randy Alexander
Jilin City, China
My Manchu studies blog:
http://www.bjshengr.com/manchu

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