[Ads-l] Possible antedate to "pneumatic"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Cowhide whips??  O. Henry???

JL

On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 6:05 PM Ben Yagoda <byagoda at udel.edu> wrote:

> The relevant definition of “pneumatic” is “humorous. Of, relating to, or
> characteristic of a woman with a well-rounded figure, esp. a large bosom;
> (of a woman) having a well-rounded figure, esp. large-bosomed.”
>
> The first citation is T.S. Eliot (!) in the 1919 poem “Whispers of
> Immortality”: "Grishkin is nice... Uncorseted, her friendly bust Gives
> promise of pneumatic bliss." A more recent one is from The Sunday Times  in
> 1994: “Making her film debut in 1981 as a pneumatic Texan temp in the
> office comedy Nine To Five, Dolly Parton was an instant success.”
>
> But a character in a 1905 O. Henry story, “The Girl and the Graft,”
> presents a long slangy list of feminine wiles: "signed letters, false
> hair, sympathy, the kangaroo walk, cowhide whips, ability to cook,
> sentimental juries, conversational powers, silk underskirts, ancestry,
> rouge, anonymous letters, violet sachet powders, witnesses, revolvers,
> pneumatic forms, carbolic acid, moonlight, cold cream and the evening
> newspapers.”
>
> By the way, the kangaroo walk was a locomotion fad that involved, as one
> source put it, a “hoppy, springy stride and a swinging relaxation of the
> arms.” It inspired a 1902 song called “The Girl with the Kangaroo Walk.”
>
> Ben
>
> benyagoda.com
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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