[Ads-l] Bugs Bunny coins "Nimrod"?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Quinion's essay is spot on, but HDAS II dealt with the semantics 20 years
ago.

Cf. blend/derivative "nimwad"?

JL



JL



On Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 12:14 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> I wouldn't give Bugs sole credit, as much as I'd like to. Michael Quinion
> does a good job of tracing the semantic evolution:
>
> http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-nim1.htm
>
> On Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 12:11 PM Andy Bach <afbach at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > 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
> >
> >
>
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>


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