s---k pot, 1805 (?)

[Joel S. Berson]

Alan Hartley pointed out to me the following:

>>might "s---k" have been "stink-pot"?
>
>I think so. At the verb "stink", the OED says "Now implying violent
>disgust on the part of the speaker; in ordinary polite use avoided
>as unpleasantly forcible." One of my grandmothers refused to use the word.

I assume his grandmother was not as far back as 1805, but perhaps the
editor of the newspaper had the same delicacy.  (Now if his
grandmother had served aboard a British or American naval vessel, it
would be a different story.)

Joel

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