[Ads-l] Nimrod?

[Laurence Horn]

So the meaning shifted (with a Looney Tunes push) the way the meaning of “gunsel” did thanks to The Maltese Falcon.  Although less deliberately.  

> On Dec 13, 2023, at 5:30 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> All of these appear to me to mean "hunter" - as in Looney Tunes. The point
> is that many of the millions who saw the cartoon(s) were unfamiliar with
> the word and likely to have misunderstood it as a synonym for fool.
> 
> JL
> 
> On Wed, Dec 13, 2023 at 5:23 PM Steven Losie <stevenlosie at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> John Baker pushed the ironic/foolish sense of "nimrod" back to 1889 on this
>> list a few years ago, with an additional ironic usage in 1903:
>> https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.linguistlist.org%2Fpipermail%2Fads-l%2F2018-October%2F153180.html&data=05%7C02%7Claurence.horn%40bulldogs.yale.edu%7C0b2205ebf4e848bc82b608dbfc2b28e7%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638381034536572596%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=AzyHZ%2B5O26ThMczJbUX1dBSA5OKHDSyI9%2BfgabcUjwE%3D&reserved=0
>> 
>> Here are a few subsequent usages that appear to pour cold water on the
>> claim that the ironic/sarcastic sense originated with Looney Tunes:
>> 
>> [begin quote]
>> It also throws some light upon the mystery of one bunny which was brought
>> in dead, but without a shot in its carcass.
>> 
>> "Here is what happened," says this nimrod. "When that particular rabbit was
>> stirred out of a clump of grass one of the hunters blazed away, but missed.
>> Another member of the party took a shot, but it was wide. Then came a
>> fusilade that sounded like a young world war. In all 18 shots were fired at
>> that poor cottontail, but not one took effect. Then the dogs saved the day
>> by capturing bunny."
>> [end quote]
>> Source: Pittsburgh Post, 27 Nov 1921, p.24, col.2 (newspapers.com)
>> 
>> [begin quote]
>> Ye Ed — "What does a nimrod mean?"
>> 
>> Other Ed — "A mighty hunter."
>> 
>> Ye Ed — "Well, a lady friend called me one and I didn't know if that was a
>> compliment or a slam."
>> 
>> O.E. — "What have you been hunting, Wild Geese?"
>> 
>> Y.E. — "No Titles."
>> 
>> O.E. — "Toitles?"
>> 
>> Now when we come to think of it we guess that is just as good a name for
>> some of them as any.
>> [end quote]
>> Source: Decatur (Ill.) Herald, 21 Oct 1928, p.40, col.6 (newspapers.com)
>> 
>> [begin quote]
>> NIMROD OF NOTE
>> 
>> It happened in the Cascade mountains. "What," demanded the amateur hunter,
>> a college professor, of his guide, "what is the name of the species I just
>> shot?"
>> 
>> "Well, sir," returned the guide, suavely, "I've just been investigating,
>> and he says his name is Smith."
>> [end quote]
>> Source: Lincoln Heights Bulletin-News (Los Angeles, Cal.), 23 Jul 1931,
>> p.4, col.3 (newspapers.com)
>> 
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>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
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