[Ads-l] cotton-pickin(g)

[Jonathan Lighter]

There's a 2009 edition of HDAS?

 I need to get me one!

JL

On Thu, Apr 15, 2021 at 2:09 AM James Eric Lawson <jel at nventure.com> wrote:

> Green's Dictionary of Slang distinguishes the adjective 'cotton-picking'
> used as a general term from the adjective used as a euphemism for
> 'damned', and attests the former from 1853, the latter from 1953. OED
> online lumps those two adjectival slang senses together and attests the
> result from 1958. The entry for 'cotton-picking' in the 1994 edition of
> HDAS (the most recent edition I can borrow online) may differ from the
> more recent 2009 edition (which is the most recent edition of HDAS
> listed in WorldCat), but doesn't make the distinction found in GDoS,
> following OED instead, with an earlier, 1952, attestation from *Looney
> Tunes*.
>
> GDos (click the paradigm icon next to the sense definition to see the
> quotes):
>
> https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/sjvn2cy
>
> OED online (paywalled; latest version of the entry published Sep 2019):
>
>
> https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/42502?rskey=ZEaK4u&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid
>
> HDAS 1994:
>
> https://archive.org/details/randomhousehisto01ligh/page/492/mode/2up
>
> -----
>
> The 05 Dec 1843 issue of _The Phalanx or Journal of Social Science_ (New
> York) contains two closely tied uses that seem to me to represent the
> transition between literal and slang senses of the adjective. That is,
> the uses contrast 'freeman' and 'cotton-picking slave', employing the
> latter with the clear intention of not only disparaging (if that's
> possible) slavery, but intensifying the disparagement with the chosen
> adjective.
>
> <extract>
> “Gumbo,” says his master, "my brother George has proposed to me to make
> a *freeman* of you, and says, if you are so disposed, as you are now in
> a land of liberty; you can stay here and learn the business of digging
> coal or melting iron along with these other *freemen*, and be no longer
> a *cotton-picking slave*--how would you like it? ...".
>
> ....
>
> Gumbo too has the choice presented of becoming a "*freeman*" or
> remaining a "*cotton-picking slave*"....
> <title>The Phalanx or Journal of Social Science
> <place>New York
> <date>05dec1843
> <articletitle>George and John Evans
> <subtitle>A Story on Slavery
> <pagerange>40-41
> <url>
> https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39076006971662?urlappend=%3Bseq=52
> </url>
> </extract>
>
>
>
>
> On 4/14/21 7:10 PM, Pete Morris wrote:
> > What is currently known about the origin of Cotton-pickin(g) as a term?
> >
> > Etymology Online says:
> >
> > https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=cotton-picking
> >
> > as a deprecatory term first recorded in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, but a
> > similar noun cotton-picker meaning "contemptible person" dates to around
> > 1919, perhaps with racist overtones that have faded over the years.
> > Before mechanization, cotton picking was the most difficult labor on a
> > plantation.
> >
> > I've seen the Bugs Bunny claim all over the internet. The specific
> > cartoon isn't identified.
> >
> > But I've found two examples from 20+ years before Bugs. Is this an
> > antedating?
> >
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------
> >
> >
> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?q1=%22cotton-pickin+chicken+stealer%22&id=inu.32000000494254&view=1up&seq=508&num=26
> >
> >
> > "You cotton-pickin chicken stealer " he howls.
> >
> > Short story : Cutey and The Beast
> > The American Magazine
> > May 1917
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> >
> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?q1=%22You+cotton-pickin%27%2C+stump-jumpin%27%2C+ridge-runnin%27%2C+moon-+shiner%22&id=uc1.ax0003459823&view=1up&seq=9
> >
> >
> >
> > "You cotton-pickin', stump-jumpin', ridge-runnin', moon- shiner"
> >
> > Article: Hoo's Hoo Column and Hoo said it.
> > History of Company A : 307th Engineer Regiment.
> > 1919
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> James Eric Lawson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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