[Ads-l] Kavanaugh yearbook

[Amy West]

On 9/28/18 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Thu, 27 Sep 2018 18:36:24 -0400
> From:    Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: Kavanaugh yearbook
>
> A quick but non-definitive check reveals no Google Books exx. of _*ski_,
> 'glass, can, or bottle of beer.'
>
> JL

So, is -ski a productive suffix that can get added to anything? Or does 
it appear only in "brewski"? I find it interesting that the meaningful 
root has been dropped, leaving only the suffix to carry the meaning by 
association/context.

And while Jonathan Lighter has pointed out the cutback from "whiskey", 
coming from New Britain, CT, I've always interpreted it as a playful use 
of a common Polish surname ending (e.g. Pulaski). Would "diminutive" 
cover that playful aspect of the suffix? And, yes, I fully recognize 
that the "playfulness" plays into/on/enacts an ethnic stereotype.

---Amy West


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