[Ads-l] cotton-pickin(g)

[James Eric Lawson]

I see. Another OUP vaportext. Regrettable. What's become of P-Z?

On 4/15/21 4:45 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> 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
>>
> 
> 

-- 
James Eric Lawson

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org