[Ads-l] Mickey D's

[Jonathan Lighter]

HDAS: 1977.

I first heard it about 1983, long before they used it in commercials.
Within a couple of years it was common on the UTK campus.

JL

On Sat, Aug 1, 2015 at 7:19 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Mickey D's
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> There's speculation on the web, but no clear answers.  Some, apparently, =
> see it as having originated as a "black thing"; here are some responses =
> to that, with no consensus:
>
> http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-158179.html
>
> I've heard it for ages but I have no idea where it came from and can't =
> imagine using it myself.  (The nickname, that is; I have used McDonald's =
> itself on occasion while in transit, I confess--sausage McMuffin for =
> breakfast while traveling, jalape=C3=B1o burgers, etc.  En route from =
> point A to points B and C via Mickey D.
>
> LH
>
> > On Aug 1, 2015, at 6:23 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >=20
> > Otherwise "McDonald's," has been a minor conundrum for me, to the =
> extent
> > that the pronunciation, "Mack Donal's," could be replaced by ''Mickey =
> D's."
> > A few TV commercials shouldn't have been sufficient to motivate the =
> change,
> > IMO, despite TV's ability to destroy one of my favorite slang =
> oppositions:
> >=20
> > _hamburger_ "black person"
> >=20
> > vs.
> >=20
> > _cheeseburger_ "white person,"
> >=20
> > based upon what was once a clear distinction in trash-food tastes, now
> > relevant only for us old heads.
> >=20
> > Older and/or hipper correspondents are, no doubt, familiar with the =
> name,
> > Mickey "Guitar" Baker of the '50's R&B duo, Mickey & Sylvia, who had =
> the
> > so-called "cross-over" hit, "Love Is Strange."
> >=20
> > The late Mr. Baker' was born "McHouston Baker," in 1925.
> >=20
> > Clearly, it's not necessarily that case that "Mc[Name]" will become =
> "Mac(k)
> > (Name)" and it's not even a new development.
> >=20
> > Youneverknow.
> >=20
> > Goodbye, Johnny McBrown [Mack Brown] and Jimmy Mack Cracklin. =
> [McCracklin]
> > of my lost youth! <sigh!>
> >=20
> > Of course, given that nothing about language is totally =
> straightforward, I
> > wouldn't be surprised to discover that Richard and Maurice McDonald,
> > founders of McDonald's, referred to as "Richard and Maurice Mac(k) =
> Donald,"
> > were I to get into a discussion of the founder, in the wild.
> > --=20
> > -Wilson
> > -----
> > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint =
> to
> > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > -Mark Twain
> >=20
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