[Ads-l] antedating (?) of jailbait

[Jonathan Lighter]

1913 _Marysville [Calif.] Appeal_  (Apr. 19) 8 [headline]: Boiled Ham Is
Good Jail Bait.

The article tells of a man who was arrested for stealing boiled ham from a
restaurant.

1915 _Atchison [Kans,] Daily Globe (May 15) 10: A lot of Atchison young men
are flirting with jail bait this week.

With no further elaboration required.

On Sat, Aug 13, 2022 at 7:05 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> Ads-L thread started December 14, 2017.
>
> Used to refer to anything tempting that might land you in jail as early as
> 1915.
>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2017-December/150227.html
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Pete
> Morris <mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM>
> Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2022 3:58:38 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: antedating (?) of jailbait
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Pete Morris <mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM>
> Subject:      antedating (?) of jailbait
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Etymology Online dates it as 1928.
> Are any earlier sources known?
>
> https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=3Djailbait
>
>
> I found an article or story with the title 'Jail Bait'
> Hearst's International Combined With Cosmopolitan
> November 1925
>
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hearst_s_International_Combined_with=
>
> _Cos/tTogAQAAMAAJ?hl=3Den&gbpv=3D1&bsq=3D%22jail+bait+%22&dq=3D%22jail+bait=
> +%22&printsec=3Dfrontcover
> <https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Hearst_s_International_Combined_with=_Cos/tTogAQAAMAAJ?hl=3Den&gbpv=3D1&bsq=3D%22jail+bait+%22&dq=3D%22jail+bait=+%22&printsec=3Dfrontcover>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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