[Ads-l] Fw: [ADS-L] "Official Ephus" and eephus?

[Stephen Goranson]

I agree with OED that a Hebrew origin seems unlikely.
HDAS and Green's online give a non-baseball 1935: A. J. Polluck, Underworld Speaks, "Ephus, dependable information, the low down."
The 1929 ship use reminds me of USNA slang (skinny, dope etc.)...(and Sec. of Navy Josephus Daniels? Were the baseball players ex-sailors?)
Here is a July 20, 1924 [B:8] use in another nonsense narrative. Charlotte [NC] Observer [Am. Hist. N.] Title: "Doping it out with Nina Wilcox Putnam, America's Only Woman Humorist"
"Then while still in the mood we give the Tomb of Napoleon the ephus. This is where Nap is taking a final one, and I had to locate the spot where Marc Anthony had made the famous ovation, but the X had been removed."

Stephen G.
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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2019 2:01 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "Official Ephus" and eephus?

Never heard of <eephus> till now, but it migrated to that part of my brain
harboring <dufus> and <goofus> 'klutz', with pseudo-Classical inflections.

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