[Ads-l] dysphemism

[James A. Landau]

The Wikipedia article on "Chipped Beef" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipped_beef reads:

<quote>In American military slang it is commonly referred to by the dysphemism "Shit On a Shingle" (SOS)—or, "Stew On a Shingle", "Same Old Stuff", "Something On a Shingle", or occasionally "Save Our Stomachs".</quote>

I was intrigued by the word "dysphemism".  How long has it been around?

A quickie search on Google Books turns up an 1873 usage which appeared in two different magazines:

MacMillan's Magazine, April 1873  page 492 second column about 15 lines down
https://books.google.com/books?id=FR5rfMmeYWYC&pg=PA492&dq=dysphemism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjro9i6lvvWAhVBbiYKHas2DccQ6AEITDAI#v=onepage&q=dysphemism&f=false

Every Saturday  May 10, 1873 page 510 second column second full paragraph
https://books.google.com/books?id=f205AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA510&dq=dysphemism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjro9i6lvvWAhVBbiYKHas2DccQ6AEIUTAJ#v=onepage&q=dysphemism&f=false

- Jim Landau

_____________________________________________________________
Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.

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