"bupkis" antedating (1937)

[Stephen Goranson]

1942 in OED & HDAS.

Elmer Rice, Imperial City: A Novel (New York: Coward-McCann, 1937), p.67:

"No potatoes for me," said Helene.
Rosie clicked her tongue. "Just like Shoiley," she said. "Vit'out food in de
stummick you'll get sick, Helen."
"I'm really not hungry," said Helene.
"They got to keep those size-sixteen figures,' said Max. "The Wall
Street goyim
like 'em skinny. Wait till Shirley marries the professor, folks, and
invites us
to Park Avenue. Do you know what you'll get for dinner? A butler behind each
chair and a green pea with some bees'-knees a la bupkis hiding underneath it."

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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