cream-puff inhaler; cake-eater (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

>From Arnold's blog, it's apparent that "cake-eater" is a 21st century
bowdlerism of the 1930s "cream-puff inhaler".

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 9:13 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: cream-puff inhaler; cake-eater
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: cream-puff inhaler; cake-eater
>
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> -
>
> Sounds like BS to me.
>
> A "cake-eater" was a "softy" of a sort easily imagined as attending
> afternoon teas, a common university activity of the era. Moreover,
> red-blooded he-men were expected to eat muscle-building steaks and
> fresh-caught trout, not sweet, debilitating cakes and pastries.
>
> As for "creampuff-inhaler," I too would like to see evidence for its
> independent existence.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 10:01 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu>
wrote=
> :
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> > Subject:      cream-puff inhaler; cake-eater
> >
> >
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-=
> ------
> >
> > for the context, see this posting:
> >
http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/06/24/mickey-mouse-in-the-old-day
s=
> /
> >
> > commenter "rubberchickencircuit" offers an explanation for two
expression=
> s:
> >
> > In 1920s slang, a cream-puff inhaler was a straight guy who slummed
with
> > gay guys, which Mickey is accusing Kat Nipp of being. (Kat Nipp is a
> > villain whom Mickey hadn=92t met at this point in the story=97he
guessed =
> the
> > gay guy might be him.)
> >
> > In the rewrite, a cake-eater was a guy who flirted with unattractive
wome=
> n
> > so that he could mooch money or food (i. e. cake) off of them. Also
makes
> > sense in context.
> >
> > .....
> >
> > but without a source for this information.  anyone know of a source?
> >
> > arnold
> >
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> >
>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
truth."
>
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