[Ads-l] antedating (I think) "flyboy" (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thank you, Fred. I blame the ol' memory banks: that's why I qualified it
with "(I think)."

Except in the world of Milton Caniff, the word (I think) doesn't become
common in print till after WWII.

Thus the movie _Flyboys_  (2006),  set in WW1, is, lexically, egregiously
anachronistic. (The WW1 equivalent was "birdman.")


JL

On Fri, May 6, 2016 at 1:31 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
> Well, to be fair, I neglected it as well.
>
>
> > ----
> >
> > It seems that Jon has neglected the finest slang dictionary ever
> published, the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, which has a 1937
> > citation for this term.  I forget the name of the editor, but I believe
> he is actually a participant on this listserv.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > 1940 Milton Caniff in _Salt Lake Tribune_ "Terry and the Pirates" (Oct.
> 20) page number undetermined
> >
> > "What's curlin' your eyebrows, fly-boy?"
> >
> >
> >
> > >
> > > 1942 Milton Caniff in _Sunday Oregonian_ (Portland, O.) (Aug. 16) 102:
> > > Imagine that fly-boy having my induction authorization with him.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> CLASSIFICATION: UNCLASSIFIED
>
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>



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