Ragged but Right, pt. 2 ("bro")

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Feb 3 15:13:35 UTC 2012


The following went to George only, for the usual mysterious cyber-reason:

"& Bros." of course, is a long-established abbr. in corporate names.

Presumably its familiarity led to "bro."  I can't imagine a child
reading the abbr. and not pronouncing it as it looks. In fact, ISTR
requiring an explanation at some early age.

So - in theory - "bro" may have been in occasional and unrecorded
humorous use for more than a century.  It only became cool in recent
decades, with "bro" = "buddy" somewhat more recently than that.

JL


--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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