[Ads-l] Antedating of "Scuzzy"

Thu Aug 24 18:37:53 UTC 2017

Thanks, Ben

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Zimmer
> Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2017 1:31 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Scuzzy"
> 
> 
> 
> ----
> 
> Victor Steinbok turned up that Mar. 1, 1963 "scuzzy" cite (in another newspaper), along with several other antedatings, back in 2011.
> 
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-November/114112.html
> 
> As for the verb "psyche (out)", OED treats this under "psych", with cites from 1931 (in the sense "to influence or manipulate
> psychologically") and
> 1963 (in the sense "to gain a psychological advantage over").
> 
> On Thu, Aug 24, 2017 at 1:17 PM, MULLINS, WILLIAM D (Bill) CIV USARMY RDECOM AMRDEC (US) <william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil>
> wrote:
> 
> > _Riverside [CA] Daily Press_ 17 Jun 1929 p 14 col 5 [from a syndicated
> > "Uncle Wiggily" story on a kid's page] "So the two grasshoppers hopped
> > after the two chirping crickets and the two crickets skipped behind
> > the scuzzy uzzy caterpillars, and the two caterpillars humped and
> > bumped themselves along back of the Squiggle Bugs and the Squigglers
> > followed the ants, and the crawling ants woggled themselves after
> > Uncle Wiggily and pretty soon they all came to a little dingy dell in
> > the woods and the rabbit sat down on a stump and put his basket beside
> > him."
> >
> > _San Diego Union_ 22 Dec 1962 p 8 col 5 [15 yr old girl speaker] "
> > "Riding a bike is really something," she said. "Of course, it's a
> > little scuzzy in the rain." "
> > [This speaker also says "psyche me out".   I notice that the OED has no
> > entry for the verb "psyche".]
> >
> > _Greenwood [MS] Commonwealth_ 1 Mar 1963 p 6 col 7 "SWINGIN' SLANG, as
> > lifted from my daughter's school paper:
> > Everyday           New Slang
> > Great . . .  . Tuff, swingin', cool
> > Fabulous . . . .  Mashy
> > Wierd [sic] . . . . . Scuzzy"
> >
> > _Pittsburgh [PA] Press_ 3 Jun 1963 p 27 col 1 "Scuzzy.  Messy, dirty
> > cheap-looking. (As: "She's a scuzzy-looking blonde.")"
> >
> > _Omaha World-Herald_ 3 Aug 1964 p 1 col 2 ""Scuzzy," it seems, is a
> > new teen term for anything very good or very bad.  Thus, the 90-degree
> > heat was scuzzy bad while the show itself was scuzzy good."
> >
> > [Little Rock] _Arkansas Democrat_ 13 Sep 1964 mag sect p 10 col 1
> > ""Groaty," "scuzzy," and "rank," parents soon discover, are
> > substitutes for filthy, dirty, and smelly or low in caste."
> > [OED has 9/5/1965 for "groaty," under variant spelling "grody".]
> >
> >
> > >
> > > scuzzy (OED 1969)
> > >
> > >
> > > 1966 _The Paper_ 28 Mar. 1/4 (Independent Voices)  The girl who met
> > > us
> > at the door had ... a black jersey (this uniform, and its levis-
> > > sweater undress version, is the scuzzy equivalent of the sorority
> > > girl
> > syndrome).
> > >
> > >
> > > Fred Shapiro
> > >
> > >
> >
> >


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