'on the make' bleached to positive 'making good money'?

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS has a positive "on the make" from 1864 and several since.

JL

On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 8:50 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: 'on the make' bleached to positive 'making good money'?
>
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>
> I have both associations, bleached and not.  My first thought would
> be something shady, but context might tell me merely aggressively
> interested in money or other success.  "On the take" would definitely
> be illicit.
>
> Joel
>
> At 11/21/2012 07:42 AM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> >I think the use of "man on the make" to mean someone who is improving his
> >lot is well-established. Woodrow Wilson used it in 1912 to refer to small
> >businessmen.
> >
> >DanG
> >
> >
> >On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 6:02 AM, Damien Hall
> ><damien.hall at newcastle.ac.uk>wrote:
> >
> > > man on the make
> >
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