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

[Geoff Nathan]

And, although much later, there's 
'Unless you know Shelley and Keats and Pope
Dainty Debbies will call you a dope' 'Brush up your Shakespeare', Kiss me Kate, Cole Porter, 1948. 

Geoffrey S. Nathan 
Faculty Liaison, C&IT 
and Professor, Linguistics Program 
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ 
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) 

Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks. 

----- Original Message -----

> From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 7:56:21 PM
> Subject: Re: "debbie" (not in OED) [was: Shakespearean play-goer &
> cliches]

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: "debbie" (not in OED) [was: Shakespearean play-goer &
> cliches]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Thanks for locating that entry for "debbie", Joel. JL found a great
> citation from a major literary figure in 1920:

> Year: 1920
> Title: This Side of Paradise
> Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
> (Text from a reprint in Google Books)

> [Begin excerpt]
> With prohibition the great rendezvous had received their death
> wounds;
> no longer could one wander to the Biltmore bar at twelve or five and
> find congenial spirits, and both Tom and Amory had outgrown the
> passion for dancing with mid-Western or New Jersey debbies at the
> Club-de-Vingt (surnamed the "Club de Gink") or the Plaza Rose Room. .
> .
> [End excerpt]

> Garson

> On Wed, Sep 24, 2014 at 7:38 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject: Re: "debbie" (not in OED) [was: Shakespearean play-goer &
> > cliches]
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > "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

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