[Ads-l] "daisy" old or British for "doozy"?

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Tue Mar 8 16:46:23 UTC 2016


> On Mar 8, 2016, at 10:33 AM, Paul A Johnston, Jr <paul.johnston at WMICH.EDU> wrote:
> 
> Add to the controversy that the old Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Dazzy Vance was named that because he used the term "That's a dazzy" (=daisy, supposedly through his accent, though i don't see how an Iowan would say that), referring to an extra-good play.  "Doozy" can certainly be used like that.

Well, not everyone is convinced, in particular the SABR-metricians:

"Arthur Vance had earned the nickname Dazzy for the dazzling fastball he had shown as a teenage semipro in rural Nebraska."
http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/5c1fec75

Was the coinage of "Dazzy", whatever its origin, a partial inspiration for "Dizzy" Dean's nickname (and hence for his brother "Daffy" Dean's)?  The three of them were apparently teammates for a while on the Gashouse Gang (30s St. Louis Cardinals), along with slugger "Ducky" Medwick.  

LH

> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Sent: Tuesday, March 8, 2016 6:54:11 AM
>> Subject: Re: "daisy" old or British for "doozy"?
>> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "daisy" old or British for "doozy"?
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> More or less, but the relationship isn't clear. See HDAS.
>> 
>> JL
>> 
>> On Mon, Mar 7, 2016 at 9:51 PM, Joel Berson <berson at att.net> wrote:
>> 
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
>>> Subject:      "daisy"  old or British for "doozy"?
>>> 
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> Might "daisy" have been used years ago, or be/have been British
>>> usage, for
>>> what we now call a "doozy"?
>>> 
>>> Joel
>>> 
>>> 
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