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

[Laurence Horn]

On Sep 24, 2014, at 7:38 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> "debbie" = debuntante (unsophisticated, new to the society of the theater).

Ah, a deb.  Shoulda thunk of that.

LH

>  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

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