[Ads-l] "jabroni" redux

[Mark Peters]

I was able to see it. Excellent work, Ben, as always, you non-jabroni.

On Fri, Feb 3, 2023 at 4:03 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "jabroni" redux
>
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>
> My Wall Street Journal column this week is on the epithet "jabroni," which
> was recently used by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce referring to
> the mayor of Cincinnati:
>
> https://on.wsj.com/3WYeYao (hopefully not paywalled)
>
> I also followed up with a Twitter thread with more on the history of the
> term:
>
> https://twitter.com/bgzimmer/status/1621278083201261569
>
> While the spelling "jiboney"/"giboney" goes back to 1919 in the writing of
> Jack "Con" Conway for Variety, Barry Popik recently found "jabroney" in the
> Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 1924-25, making it the earliest known variant
> spelled with an "r."
>
> ---
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117555179/jabroney-1924/
> Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov 15, 1924, p. 5, col. 3
> "Raspberry Garlands and Bay Leaves" by George Currie
> Mr Clinton Lucerne Mosher of Summit, N.J., who in spite of his new raccoon
> coat and galloping Lizzie has the heart of a vagabond, informs me that the
> term hobo is being kept alive as a corn-plaster advertisement prop and that
> the only word "a respectable law-abiding bum would answer to is jabroney."
> It only goes to show how young America is rapidly outgrowing Mr. Noah
> Webster and Messrs. Funk & Wagnalls.
> ---
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117555417/jabroney-1925/
> Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Jan. 2, 1925, p. 6, col. 3
> "Savants And Our Language"
> To wake up to the younger generation, with its "oil cans," "bimboes," "wet
> smacks," "jabroney," etc. [...]
> ---
>
> --bgz
>
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