[Ads-l] Bad language of the 1890s

[Jonathan Lighter]

Looks like it.

HDAS has a few 19th C. U.S. "ballocks" n. pl. cites, but by 1915 it was
pretty well gone. I'm not aware of any American novel that employs it.
None of my American students ever reported it on surveys.

BTW "bollocks" is the favored contemporary spelling. Calling Dr. Freud....

JL

On Fri, Jun 19, 2015 at 8:11 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Bad language of the 1890s
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 6/19/15 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> > make a ballocks of:  wreck, spoil; "ball up."
> This I find interesting: so, at one point this was in the American
> dialect as well as British, but then it fell out and has come back in
> via British media?
>
> (I do use "bollocks/bollox up," but it's a pretty conscious
> choice/affectation when I do. . . . )
>
> ---Amy West
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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