weasels

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:49 PM -0400 4/19/10, victor steinbok wrote:
>
>What brought this on is the connection between South Carolina and
>"weasels"--which used to be the state nickname.

It would have been nice to know this before Gov. Sanford came to Yale
earlier this month to rouse his audience against the immorality and
ethical lapses of Obama and his fellow socialists or nazis or
whatever it is at the moment...

LH

>That nickname is no
>longer used and I was wondering if they have Teddy Roosevelt to thank
>for that. The latest occurrence that I have--without much recent
>searching (but I did the search back when hunting for
>leathernecks)--is from 1893 (back to 1871). OED has 1845 and 1875 for
>citations. The Roosevelt quotes and citations start around 1900 with
>other (non-OED) citations going back a bit further. So if the nickname
>was dropped around that time, there would be a direct connection. But
>if the nickname was used up until WWII, the connection would be
>tenuous at best.
>
>Any thoughts or finds on the subject would be helpful.
>
>VS-)
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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