"Cave Nullo cock" (of a hat, that is; ignore any chili peppers)

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Thu Sep 29 00:26:00 UTC 2011


On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 11:55 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
"Postdates OED2 "Kevenhuller" sense a. Â -1746", Wilson.

There's no apology necessary, Joel. However, we have yet to advance my
*personal* knowlege of of the content of this thread. <sigh!> Clearly,
some aspect of fashion is the topic, since the phrase, "in the Mode,"
occurs. Even the subject-line, though certainly attention-grabbing -
it's as good as the titles of some of Dylan's work - is totally
opaque:

"Cave Nullo cock" (of a hat, that is; ignore any chili peppers)

I could shuck and jive: Naturally, I'm quite familiar with that
conundrum. Indeed, I have my own thoughts on it. I'll be publishing in
a to-appear number of The Cut of his Jib, the journal of the
Jibberjabber Society. However, if your interest is serious, the
fullest currently-available explication of this matter is that to be
found in the analysis due to Joel Berson. You know the name, I assume.
Every serious study of the topic is derivative of his pioneering work.

But it would be nice to know what's going on.

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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