TV ad: "... a real dude ranch"

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Tue May 27 23:54:09 UTC 2014


I peeked into the OED.  Two amusing quotations:

The earliest quotation is
1897   E. Hough Story of Cowboy 279   A genuine
rustler was called a ‘waddy’, a name difficult to trace to its origin.

The third (of three) is
1931   W. Rogers in S. K. Gragert Will Rogers'
Weekly Articles (1982) V. 470   You town waddies know what a Combine is?

Now I know how to refer to a (real) dude -- "town waddy".

Joel

At 5/27/2014 07:25 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>The inner-sanctum term, equivalent to "freak" among hippies and "cat" among
>jazzmen is, or at least used to be, "waddy."
>
>JL
>
>
>On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 7:10 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: TV ad: "... a real dude ranch"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Today, I found a line claiming "cowboy" should be used only as a verb
> > among (whatever cowboys are supposed to be called).
> >
> > Bryce Andrews (http://www.waleslit.com/blog/):
> > -----
> > His co-workers there teach him how to worm a horse and ride through the
> > cattle to “settle” them, and never to use
> the word “cowboy,” except as a
> > verb.
> > -----
> >
> > Benjamin Barrett
> > Formerly of Seattle, WA
> >
> > https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/videos
> >
> > On May 24, 2014, at 4:47 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 4:38 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com
> > >wrote:
> > >
> > >> I thought a dude ranch was a place where cowboys did cowboy things.
> > >
> > >
> > > Sigh! Well, those of us to whose eye the phrase, "Ken Maynard and Tarzan,
> > > The Wonder Horse!", brings a tear of nostalgia for childhood past recall
> > > the "dude ranch" as a vacation resort set up to resemble a "working
> > ranch"
> > > for the entertainment of "dudes" - i.e. swells, lames, squares - from the
> > > effete east wanting all of the fun, but none of the work, of the cowboy
> > > life on the western plains.
> > >
> > > In other words, cowboys did do cowboy things on a dude ranch, but only to
> > > put on a show as entertainment for vacationing dudes. Cf. the
> > > "professionals" working at ski resorts, for instance.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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

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