[Ads-l] Bugs Bunny coins "Nimrod"?
Andy Bach
afbach at GMAIL.COM
Thu Oct 11 16:10:56 UTC 2018
According to "Now You Know" and WikiP, Chuck Jones et alia are the actual
coiners of the idiot version:
" The word “nimrod” is commonly used to describe someone who is acting like
a doofus, but the word originally meant the opposite. “Nimrod” originally
comes from the name of a biblical Egyptian king who was widely regarded as
a skilled hunter. But, according to Wikipedia
<https://nowiknow.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2889002ad89d45ca21f50ba46&id=aefcd20163&e=33dbfa3b8f>,
Bugs Bunny (yes, the iconic cartoon character) used the term sarcastically
in reference to hapless hunter Elmer Fudd. Viewers didn’t pick up the
sarcasm and the meaning of the term reversed. "
WikiP cites "Garner's Modern American Usage":
https://books.google.com/books?id=mVcJqKs1isUC&pg=PR53#v=onepage&q&f=false
Though they also cite the "Dictionary of Jewish Usage"
https://books.google.com/books?id=Nk_RFL9LYg0C&pg=PA126#v=onepage&q&f=false
which says it was in use as meaning "maroon" (said to be Bugs'
pronunciation of "moron", not referring to Maroons, runaway slaves (which
the Straight Dope differs:
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-25808.html
)) is noted as far back as the 1930s
--
a
Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list