"spoofy" and "shimming" in Utah, 1919

[Victor Steinbok]

The first quotation from OED "spiffy" is worth mentioning for a variety
of reasons:

> 1853    D. G. Rossetti Let. 2 Nov. (1965) I. 161   The frame for my
> water-colour has just come in and is spiffy cheesy jammy nobby [etc.].

"Cheesy" is more likely in sense 3. rather than 4.

> 3. slang. 'Fine or showy' [1858]
> 4. Also cheesey. Inferior, second-rate, cheap and nasty. slang. [1893]

Either way, Rossetti antedates it by a few years.

"Jammy" is also in and, oddly, the figurative meaning precedes the
literal, with the same Rossetti quotation (differently extracted) listed
first:

> 1853    D. G. Rossetti Let. 2 Nov. (1965) I. 161   The frame for my
> water-colour..is..jammy, nobby, stunning, jolly, splendacious.

Both likely have plenty of room for improvement (antedating).

"Nobby" is also in, with separate entries for people (1788) and things
(1844):

> colloq. A. adj. Relating to or characteristic of people of some wealth
> or social distinction; very smart or elegant, fashionable. In later
> use depreciative.

So is stunning, starting with David Copperfield (1849):

> 2. a. colloq. Excellent, first-rate, 'splendid', delightful; extremely
> attractive or good-looking.
> b. quasi-adv. (intensifying the following adj.).

The latter seems to be nearly identical to some British uses of "jolly"
(but this one shows up much earlier).

     VS-)

On 3/6/2011 2:50 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> "Spoof" is in OED as noun, adjective and verb, along with "spoofed",
> "spoofing" (n. & adj.), "spoofer" and "spoofery", although not all
> meanings are covered (I posted on "spoofing" on Feb. 25). "Spiff" (n.
> & v.), "spiffing" and "spiffy" are also in current OED on-line.
>
>     VS-)

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