a side note on twink

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:29 PM -0500 2/14/10, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>Thanks for the overview of the many meanings of twink.
>
>Twinks was also the nickname of a baseball team called the Hollywood
>Stars. Hence, the term twinks was used to describe a group of
>primarily young and athletic men from the late 1930s to the 1950s. The
>term was widely known because the Los Angeles Times ran many headlines
>with the words twink and twinks in the time period. Here is a sampling
>of the headlines about the minor league team that can be found in the
>Google News Archive:

Not relevant to "twink" perhaps, but possibly to the origin of the
mocking label of "Twinkies" that at least for a while would be used
as a replacement for the official nickname, Twins, in reference to
the Minnesota baseball franchise in the American League when they
were going through a bad stretch. Unless that was simply for the
sugary snacks, as I always assumed.

LH

>
>Cherubs Trim Twinks, 5-2 - Aug 11, 1938
>Leading Beavers Test Twinks at Gilmore - Apr 4, 1939
>Twinks Hold Stiff Workout - Mar 2, 1940
>Twink Twirlers Set for Drill - Feb 22, 1941
>Seals Defeat Twinks Twice - Sep 8, 1942
>Twinks and Suds Resume Tonight - Apr 13, 1945
>Six Still Holdouts as Twink Squad Turns Out - Feb 25, 1947
>Old School Star Sold on Twinks' Baseball Shorts - May 3, 1950
>Twinks Discard 'Short' Uniforms; It's a Long, Long Trail From Pirates
>- Jul 1, 1955
>Twink Infielders Hurt in Collision - Apr 12, 1957
>
>1957 was the last year of the Hollywood Stars baseball team. Two of
>these headlines refer to the experimental replacement of "the
>traditional bloused baseball trousers and stirrup socks with shorts
>and long socks in 1950."
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Stars
>
>I tried to connect the Hollywood Stars twinks to the twink definition
>witnessed in 1962. But I was unable to find any solid evidence
>bridging the two different meanings in the archives that I searched.
>Perhaps someone else will succeed.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org