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

[Baker, John]

It occurred to me that the example from the Dexter Free Press was probably a reference to an earlier usage in the same newspaper.  It’s almost certainly the following one, where “nimrod” (lower case) is a sarcastic term for “hunter.”  From the Dexter (Kansas) Free Press, Nov. 1, 1889:  “There is a larger crop of prairie chickens, quail and jack rabbits this season than for years, and doughty nimrods are burning considerable powder in attemping [sic] to scare the life out of the poor, innocent creatures.”


John Baker


From: Baker, John
Sent: Thursday 11 October 2018 2:28 PM
To: 'American Dialect Society'
Subject: RE: Bugs Bunny coins "Nimrod"?

Here are a couple of pre-Bugs examples of “Nimrod” from Newspapers.com.  I’m not sure to what extent the first one should be taken at face value.  In the second, “What a Nimrod!” is a sarcastic way to say “What a great hunter!”  “Nimrod” used to be a much more common term than it is today, and I didn’t spend much time looking at this, so I’m sure these can be improved upon.

Dexter (Kansas) Free Press, Nov. 29, 1889:  “Jim Handy wants to know what a nimrod is.  It is this.  In the article you seen it mentioned in, it means a fool.”

Shepherdstown (W. Va.) Register, Mar. 5, 1903:  “It is announced that the President is to go West in a few weeks and hunt big game.  Let us hope he will have a change of luck.  With Washington full of trust magnates, tariff robbers, money grabbers and other great game the past winter, the only thing he succeeded in harming was a handful of humble, inoffensive citizens at Indianola.
What a Nimrod!”


John Baker


From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Ben Zimmer
Sent: Thursday 11 October 2018 12:15 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Bugs Bunny coins "Nimrod"?

External Email - Think Before You Click


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<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<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<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<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<https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-25808.html>
> )) is noted as far back as the 1930s
>
>

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

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