"coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910

[Jonathan Lighter]

That's my guess, especially now that I see several dozen GB hits for "sly
old coon."

JL

On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 9:25 PM, DanG <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Poster:       DanG <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910
>
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> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
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> >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >Subject:      Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910
>
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >HDAS has _coony_, "sly," from 1899.
> >
>  >JL
> >
> >
> >On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 8:21 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
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> >> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >> Subject:      Re: "coony" adj. = sly, cunning, 1910
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Alison, apology accepted.  But as to bald like a raccoon, I have that
> >> on the best authority -- the OED's definition of "coony a.", under
> >> "coon, n."  ... Oops, perhaps they're wrong -- they've spelt it
> "racoon"!
> >>  :-)
> >>
> >> Joel
> >>
> >> At 2/3/2010 07:02 PM, Alison Murie wrote:
> >> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >> >>' "bald" like a raccoon??'  Coons ain't bald.  Far from it.  'Possums
> >> >>look bald, but aren't.   Perhaps the meaning of "coony" is really
> >> >>cunning, which would be more appropriate altogether.
> >> >>AM
> >> >~~~~~~~~~~
> >> >Ooops.  Somehow I missed para 2 in Joel's post.  I'm sorting through a
> >> >mountain of backlogged mail.  I was away from my desk for ten days
> >> >getting a bad hip replaced & being whipped into a semblance of normal
> >> >functioning by a crew of therapists.  Medicare is wonderful.  (Only it
> >> >didn't get me to read my mail more carefully.)
> >> >AM
> >>
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