[Ads-l] Heard on The Steve Wilkos Show, tonight

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

A book that was probably published in 1953 contains the phrase
"rabbit-ass mind".

Year: 1953
Title: The Waiters
Author: William Fisher
Publisher: The World Publishing Company, Cleveland, Ohio
Quote Page GB 162
Database: Google Books Snippet
(Data may be inaccurate; 1953 is visible in snippet showing copyright
notice; 1953 is also shown in WorldCat entry)

[Begin extracted text]
Asher, who had to keep his eye on the car ahead, patted her thigh with one hand.
"Pay 'em no mind, babes," he said. "Pay 'em no rabbit-ass mind."
Asher nosed the car along for several blocks in the creeping stream of
automobiles.
[End text]

Wilson displayed a snippet with "rabbit-assed mind" in the
(apparently) 1967 book 'Sippi'. The book also contains "rabbit-ass
mind".

Year: 1967
Title: 'Sippi'
Author: John Oliver Killens
Publisher: Trident Press, New York
Quote Page 71
Database: Google Books Snippet
(Data may be inaccurate; 1967 is visible in snippet showing
publication date; 1967 is also shown in WorldCat entry)

[Begin extracted text; not shown in snippet]
Swear to my Jesus, she won't pay me no rabbit-ass mind. She ain't
gitting up offa nothing for nobody, but all you got to do is to pop
your finger."
[End text]

Below is another instance that was probably published in 1968.

Year: 1968
Title: The Hippies
Author: Burton H. Wolfe
Publisher: A Signet Book: New American Library
Quote Page 168
Database: Google Books Snippet
(Data may be inaccurate; 1968 is visible in copyright notice snippet;
1968 is also shown in WorldCat entry)

[Begin extracted text]
I remember this one boy I met, Joe, eighteen years old He was using
and selling crystal One day he said to me: "Man, I'm out of my rabbit
ass mind." I asked him what that meant. He said: "I've just turned on
to some good geese [another term for heroin]."
[End text]

Garson


On Thu, Sep 22, 2016 at 3:25 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> Spoken by a 25-ish, black male guest:
>
> "You out your _rabbit-assed mind_!
>
> Google: About 516 results; _rabbit-assed_ alone: About 937 results
>
>
> I last - and first - heard this turn of phrase in 1957. It was used by only
> a single person, an older ex-GI who was a frat-brother of mine. I assumed
> that it was GI slang. However, until tonight, I'd never heard anyone else
> use it, whether in the Army or anywhere else
>
>
> GoogleB: 26 results; _rabbit-assed_ alone: 35 results
>
> 'Sippi - Page 175
> https://books.google.com/books?id=HKxiAAAAMAAJ
> John Oliver Killens - 1967 - ‎Snippet view
> They liked him very much, even if the girls on the campus paid him no
> _rabbit-assed mind_.
>
> This is the oldest cite, but with a twist in the semantics.
>
> By coincidence, Killens was also an (even older) ex-GI who was a
> frat-brother of mine.
>
> --
> -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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org