"debbie" (not in OED) [was: Shakespearean play-goer & cliches]

[Joel S. Berson]

"debbie" = debuntante (unsophisticated, new to the society of the 
theater).  No headword, but a quotation in the OED, just three years 
later than Garson's quotation (and perhaps still new, as indicated by 
its being quoted):

1939 Chatelaine May 35/3   When I see a 'debbie' who never dances 
more than halfway round the ballroom without a cut-in, I make this 
mental note:..she'll soon be among the 'young marrieds'.

Joel

At 9/24/2014 07:24 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>On Sep 24, 2014, at 4:39 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>
> > Wow, thank you for this quick find (finding?).
> >
> > I don't know what a debbie is (not defined by Wiktionary or the OED),
>
>Maybe a girl/young woman of the genre typically named Debbie?  I've 
>seen "a Jennifer" used as a general name of that kind, and of course 
>there's "a Sheila" in Oz.
>
>LH
>...
> > On Sep 24, 2014, at 1:07 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole 
> <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>...
> >> >> [ref] 1936 October 17, Ballston Spa Daily Journal, My New York by
> >> James Aswell, Quote Page 4, Column 2, Ballston Spa, New York. (Old
> >> Fulton)[/ref]
> >>
> >> [Begin excerpt]
> >> Leslie Howard has hung out his Shakespearean shingle in one theater
> >> and the English marvel, John Gielgud, is holding forth in another. . .
> >> . A pert debbie, attending the Gielgud interpretation the other night,
> >> quipped in the lobby: "But how can anyone listen to all those old saws
> >> and ancient wisecracks they've been hearing all their lives?" . . .
> >> Well, a lot of people go to Shakespeare to recognize the quotations.
> >> [End excerpt]

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org