[Ads-l] Nimrod?

[Jonathan Lighter]

So I'd say.

JL

On Wed, Dec 13, 2023 at 7:25 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> 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)
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society -
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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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"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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