[Ads-l] "putting [someone] 'hep to the good thing''' 1902 (an antedating? my 1903)

[Mark Mandel]

Missing some text?

MAM


On Fri, Jan 31, 2020, 6:42 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:

> I suggest that "hep," in the sense in the 1902 text below, and also
> "hept," may have originated from US dialect pronunciation of "help" and
> "helped." That help and hep are equivalent in, say, "let me hep you with
> that" needs no detailed argument (or see DARE for examples). Here are a few
> uses that may help (or get you hep to) the proposal.
>
> "Michael Hessheimer of Lincoln, Neb., had been sick over three years, *but
> six bottles of Electric Bitters put him helped thousands*....Only 50c at
> druggists." Concord Daily Tribune, NC, Oct. 17, 1912, 2/3. [Newspapers.com]
>
> ...

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