[Ads-l] "the skinny" redux

[Grant Barrett]

I'm looking into "the skinny" for an upcoming recording session and I
followed "The Lucky Bag" trail you all have so nicely laid to this 1913
edition of the yearbook, which includes a definition that very neatly, in
my opinion, bridges the "physics/chemistry class/building" meaning of
"skinny" at the Naval Academy and the modern "information" sense of "the
skinny."

https://archive.org/details/luckybag1913unit/page/296/mode/2up?q=skinny

1913 _The Lucky Bag_, United States Naval Academy, appendix B, p. 297:
Skinny, n. A midshipman's slender knowledge of the Laws and Principles of
physics; Doyle's Laws.

Also, it wasn't clear from the thread here whether it was fully appreciated
that the 1932 citation in "The Lucky Bag" previously mentioned accompanies,
in the same issue, a use of "the Skinny Department." That kind of
co-occurrence suggests, perhaps, a firm split in meaning by that point.

https://archive.org/details/luckybag1932unse/page/218/mode/1up?q=skinny

1932 _The Lucky Bag_, United States Naval Academy, p. 218: Except for a
skirmish with the Skinny Department, youngster year, Happy has always been
several jumps ahead.

GB


On Wed, Jul 27, 2022 at 1:13 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 27, 2022 at 2:40 PM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > 1922 Won for the Fleet: A Story of Annapolis, p. 114
> >
> >  Old Man , you're hung on the skinny tree ! " “ You mean I'm posted unsat
> > . in Physics ? ”
> >
>
> That seems to be playing with the "thin" and "physics and chemistry"
> meanings, without the later "information" meaning. See also:
>
> ---
> https://archive.org/details/luckybag1905unse/page/204/mode/2up
> Lucky Bag, 1905, "Foolish Dictionary of Slang"
> p. 205:
> Date, n. [A fruit — something plucked from the skinny tree, often
> associated with peaches.]
> (2) An engagement for trysting or anything else.
> p. 207:
> Skinny, n. (1)  An impolite way of saying ''She's as fat as a lead pencil."
> (2) Physics and Chemistry.
> ---
>
>
>
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben
> > Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2022 2:22 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: "the skinny" redux
> >
> > Back in 2019, Stephen Goranson started a thread on "the skinny" =
> > "information, news, gossip," noting that "skinny" was US Naval Academy
> > slang for the physics and chemistry department.
> >
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2019-August/155333.html__;!!OToaGQ!o0nfK0KP04CGLIiSSgkv5BRLotTidZL7mu1Ozgk-ywtpVmf9dXepRRLsEdEcGSdqg6t_VwXZYcfVhBSa$
> >
> > Stephen gave various examples from Lucky Bag, the Naval Academy's
> yearbook,
> > but didn't include this one:
> >
> > ---
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://archive.org/details/luckybag1932unse/page/142/mode/1up?q=skinny__;!!OToaGQ!o0nfK0KP04CGLIiSSgkv5BRLotTidZL7mu1Ozgk-ywtpVmf9dXepRRLsEdEcGSdqg6t_VwXZYcZpqCn3$
> > Lucky Bag, 1932, p. 142
> > [Student bio of Harold Edward Baker]
> > If you don't get the skinny of things, Eddie can usually set you right.
> > ---
> >
> > This cite is mentioned in a Grammarphobia post by Patricia T. O'Conner
> and
> > Stewart Kellerman. The entry was originally posted on Grammarphobia in
> Jan.
> > 2011 but was updated in June 2021.
> >
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/01/skinny-2.html__;!!OToaGQ!o0nfK0KP04CGLIiSSgkv5BRLotTidZL7mu1Ozgk-ywtpVmf9dXepRRLsEdEcGSdqg6t_VwXZYWiyzaXu$
> >
> > As Pat and Stewart suggest, this appears to be the earliest known cite
> for
> > "the skinny" in the informational sense, antedating the 1938 example
> given
> > by JL later in the 2019 thread (see below). The 1938 cite has also been
> > added to the OED's online entry.
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> > On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 5:54 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > The earliest discovered exx. of "the skinny," acc. to HDAS, appear in
> the
> > > adventure memoir, _The Rolling World_ (Boston: Houghton, 1938), by
> > Richard
> > > [Matthews] Hallet.  Hallet (1887-1967), from Boothbay Harbor, Maine,
> had
> > > two degrees from Harvard when in 1912 he decided to ditch his law
> career
> > > and go to sea.  His book mainly covers the period of 1912 to about 1932
> > and
> > > recounts as well time he spent in Australia and Arizona.
> > >
> > > Hallet uses "the skinny" at least twice, in a book published decades
> > before
> > > the term went mainstream. It seems significant, however, that the word
> is
> > > neither defined nor placed within quotes:
> > >
> > > P. 287:  "But the elfin corners of Lehua's mouth suggested her gift of
> > > improvisation. Had she really given me the skinny of an actual legend
> > from
> > > the archives of her race, or was she wafting me the native poetry of
> her
> > > soul?
> > >
> > > P. 332:  "We lit our pipes.  I gave him the skinny of a yarn I had
> > written
> > > of this western country. It was called 'The Snap of the Cap,' and had
> to
> > do
> > > with a man who had fallen in love with a girl out here somewhere in
> these
> > > mountains."
> > >
> > > What may also be significant is that both exx. are "assigned" to the
> > period
> > > after 1928, when Hallet accompanied Navy Secretary Curtis Wilbur to
> Pearl
> > > Harbor in the battleship _California_. (He met "Lehua" on Oahu.) It is
> > thus
> > > possible that Hallet picked up a word that already had notable currency
> > in
> > > the Navy, or at least in _California_.  That could explain the absence
> of
> > > definition or quotation marks.
> > >
> > > But so could a lot of things.
> > >
> > > The ex. on p. 287 is easily interpreted as "the real truth," as is now
> > > common, but the second ex. is not; there "the skinny" seems to mean,
> more
> > > precisely, the (bare?) basic facts.  Get it? "Skin-ny."   (Don't blame
> > me;
> > > I didn't make the usage up.)
> > >
> > > Of course, the pre-existing naval currency of "Skinny"  at Annapolis as
> > > "physics and chemistry" ("hard sciences" as Stephen observes) wouldn't
> > have
> > > hurt the rise of the new meaning.
> >
>
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