Spreading da stink eye on da mainlend

[Ben Zimmer]

On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>
> The teller at the drive-through where I go with my dogs clearly has a Southern accent.
>
> As I'm working on the ATM, one of my dogs pleads with his eyes and sometimes his bark
> for her to come out and give him snacks.
>
> She has said on more than one occasion that my dog is giving her "the stink eye," a
> common Hawaiian expression meaning "dirty look." Today, I asked her where she picked
> that up, and she said she used to live on Maui.
>
> I think this is an expression with great potential on the mainlend.

On his Double-Tongued site, Grant Barrett has cites for "stink eye"
back to 1962 (and addresses the purported Hawaiian origin in an
etymological note):

http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/stink_eye/

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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