"as lousy as a coot"

[James Smith]

It looks like you're ignoring "old coot" because it isn't an "as a
coot" construction.  I don't recall ever hearing "old as a coot", just "old coot".


James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.


--- On Thu, 7/9/09, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:

> From: Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject: Re: "as lousy as a coot"
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date: Thursday, July 9, 2009, 7:53 PM
> There are many similes "[adjective]
> as a coot".
>
> Casual count of the first 200 items turned up by G. Books
> for "as a
> coot" (1850-1915): irrelevancies omitted; duplicates
> omitted (when I
> noticed them):
>
> Bald 70
> Crazy 19
> Mad 17
> Stupid 12
> Poor 9
> Drunk 5
> Lousy 5
> Silly 2
> Simple 2
> Solitary 2
> Bare 1
> Deaf 1
> Dizzy 1
> Foolish 1
> Grey 1
> Pilled 1
> Sleepy 1
> Timid 1
> Wild 1
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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