[Ads-l] kayfabe in today's NY Times

[Stephen Goranson]

Maybe, okay:
kayfabe from
kay fabe from
Kay Fabe from
Kay Fabian from
Ray Fabiani (1890-1973), a promoter (and, based on a photo, a former wrestler),
a boss who insisted that the actors keep in the role as a rule.
A concert violinist before and opera manager afterwards,
he publicly objected to having known athletes from other sports being guest performers,
to keep pro wrestling purely its own act.
okay?

Kid Goranson



________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Bill Mullins <amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 3:49 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: kayfabe in today's NY Times

Two of Garson's "Boris K. Fabian" cites below can be slightly antedated

1958 Lewiston [ME] Evening Journal 17 Oct. 18/3
Wrestling (4:45) -- Participants include The Masked Marvel, Emile Dupre, Boris K. Fabian


1960 Daily Kennebec [ME] Journal 27 Jun 2/4
Main Event -- Chief Don Eagle vs. Boris "Kay" Fabian

And I'll repost here from the same thread what I think is the earliest use of "kayfabe" noted so far:

1971 _Chicago Tribune_ 4 May sec 3 p 3 col 4
has a letter to the editor of the sports section about wrestling, signed
"Mark Kayfabe".



> Geoffrey Nathan initiated an entertaining thread about "kayfabe" back
> in January 2021.
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2021-January/158765.html__;!!OToaGQ!rHInZ8CohWUziCPHukqOUhQGC2G7N21yCwVPr94-jpJ_7yba5EoYG7Y4zGqyk4130GNs3P4RLMAfrf3guMU$
>
> I did post a message within this thread about names in wrestling (as
> alluded to by sg) which included:
>
> 1958 Nov 18: Boris K. Fabian
>1959 Feb 17: Boris Kafabian
> 1960 Sep 04: Boris Kay Fabian




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