[Ads-l] cotton-pickin(g)

[Andy Bach]

As to the Bugs aspect, the way I recall it he used it as an adjective of
uncertain approbation, as in "Just wait a cotton-pickin' minute".
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cotton-picking.html

While not originating the term, Bugs can claim to have done more to fix it
into the language than the rest of rabbitkind, especially in its most often
used form 'Wait just a cotton-picking minute'. There's an example in *Bully
for Bugs* (Bugs in Seville, battles a wiley bull), 1953:

"Just a cotton-pickin' minute, this don't look like the Coachella Valley to
me!"


Part of the that cartoon.

https://youtu.be/ADjRbR-S4bA


On Wed, Apr 14, 2021 at 9:10 PM Pete Morris <mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>
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
>
>
>
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a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
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