"as lousy as a coot"

[Joel S. Berson]

At 7/9/2009 04:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Yeah, Wilson. But figuratively.

Or diminutively?
Joel


>JL
>
>On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 4:42 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "as lousy as a coot"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > So, "cootie" was originally short for "coot"? ;-)
> >
> > -Wilson
> >
> > On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 10:26 AM, Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender: Ā  Ā  Ā  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster: Ā  Ā  Ā  Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject: Ā  Ā  Ā Re: "as lousy as a coot"
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > So the etymology may not be very exotic after all.
> > >
> > > Slightly earlier exx. of Ā "coot," also British:
> > >
> > > 1915 (Apr. 22) in Ā Harold Chapin _Soldier and Dramatist: Being the
> > Letters
> > > of...[an] American Citizen who Died for England at Loos on September 26,
> > > 1915_ (London: John Lane, 1917) 141: Two of the four Corporals have
> > > celebrated the occasion by "going cooty," otherwise declaring possession
> > of
> > > one or more lice and being quarantined in the scaby ward. Ā  (Sept. 17)
> > Ibid.
> > > 270: Willet...grappling with an enormous "coot" (otherwise louse).
> > >
> > > In April, 1915, Chapin was a member of the 6th Field Ambulance of the
> > Royal
> > > Army Medical Corps stationed near Givenchy.
> > >
> > > "Coot" was also a frequent synonym in the U.S. Army. I'd hastily assumed
> > it
> > > was short for "cootie," but perhaps the opposite was originally true.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender: Ā  Ā  Ā  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster: Ā  Ā  Ā  Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> > >> Subject: Ā  Ā  Ā "as lousy as a coot"
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>
> > >> Google Books gives 22 hits for "as lousy as a coot" up to "1916."
> > >>
> > >> Stephen Goranson
> > >> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
> > >>
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> >
> > --
> > -Wilson
> > ā€â€œÄ€â€œÄ€â€œ
>“
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -----
> > -Mark Twain
> >
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