Of "pop" goes the weasel and the OED

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Mon May 11 15:35:30 UTC 2009


At 5/11/2009 02:00 AM, Mark Mandel wrote:
>First time I've heard of their making such a sound. I'd also heard the
>tale of the tailor's implement; this one actually makes sense!

The tale of the tailor is much told on the Internet.

But why is "weasel" = 'tailor's flat iron' not in the OED?  Is it not
as common as "goose" (= "smoothing-iron)?  Or "cabbage" n.2 or
"cucumber" 2.c (""some obscure reference to a tailor"), other terms
from the (18th c.?) clothing trade?

Joel

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