"spend a penny" -- the TLS is at it again.

[Joel S. Berson]

At 10/9/2011 01:39 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>"Spend a penny" couldn't be a pun on "p." could it?

Not likely, if the 1747 example alludes to laxatives?  Although
perhaps the later uses derive from a different fount.

(And "pee, v." seems somewhat later -- the OED has 1788.  Unless it's
a pun on piss.)

Joel


>JL
>
>On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 7:53 PM, Garson O'Toole
><adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: "spend a penny" -- the TLS is at it again.
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Douglas G. Wilson wrote
> >> Somebody has made the assertion or speculation (I saw it on-line but I
> >> can't find it now) that "bum-taffy" was a deliberate malapropism
> >> referring to Daffy's Elixir, an old laxative (which has a Wikipedia page).
> >
> > The following book in GB that provides explanations for "Winisms" also
> > connects "bum-taffy" to the specific item "Daffey's Elixir, a
> > laxative"
> >
> > Title: Bulletin of the New York Public Library.
> > Author: New York Public Library.
> > Publisher: New York, New York Public Library.
> > Volume: 68
> > Year: 1964
> > (Google Books snippet view; Data not verified may inaccurate;
> > HathiTrust has also has a match for "bum-taffy" in the same Volume 68
> > and claims the year is 1964)
> >
> > <Begin extracted text>
> > buckled, crisped and curled long hair, Ba, Jo, K, OED.
> >
> > bumbeseens. a Winism for bombasin or bombasine, a cloth made of silk
> > and cotton, Ba, Jo, K, OED. It may also be a Winism for a dress made
> > of this material,
> >
> > bum-taffy, a Winism for a dose of Daffey's Elixir, a laxative,
> >
> > carrying-crow, a Winism for carrion crow.
> >
> > changing, "to put one thing in the place of another," K. Often used
> > with chopping.
> > <End extracted text>
> >
> > http://books.google.com/books?id=H7kqAQAAIAAJ&q=taffy#search_anchor
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org