[Ads-l] Antedating of "Goof Off"

[Jonathan Lighter]

1938 Honolulu Advertiser  (Aug. 18) 11: Two infield errors....The shortstop
threw wild and then the third basemen [sic] goofed off.

Here it seems to mean to squander or waste:

1938 Springfield [Mo.] Leader and Press (May 22) D-1:  Jimmie Renfro,
the...pro golfer from Fort Worth, Texas,..bumped into...tough luck....In
the city jail, Jimmie [sic] moaned, 'To think, after all the dough I have
goofed off in my time, that I have to stay in this can for a lousy $9.15."

 Ibid. (Oct. 27) 9: Day admitted that he took the money, that he had spent
$50 of it as the down payment on an auto and 'goofed off' $24 more.

JL

On Sun, Jan 1, 2023 at 1:53 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> “goof off” July 1939, used by someone in the military on Hawaii, in
> discussing how he picked his baseball team, preferring experience over
> batting average.
>
> Honolulu Advertiser, July 11, 1939, page 9.
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/115581595/the-honolulu-advertiser/
>
> “[Engineer Staff Sgt.] Thomason prefers to have an old head under fire
> instead of some lamb to goof off when the going is tough.”
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows
>
> From: ADSGarson O'Toole<mailto:adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, January 1, 2023 7:19 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Goof Off"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Goof Off"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Green=E2=80=99s Dictionary of Slang (GDoS) has eight senses for the verb
> "g=
> oof off".
> https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/j2sbrqi
>
> The earliest citation in GDoS is for the following sense:
>
> [Begin excerpt from GDoS]
> 2. to blunder; to wreck.
> 1939 [US] Army and Navy Register (US) 18 Nov. 3/2: =E2=80=98Goof
> off,=E2=80=
> =99 to make
> a mistake.
> [End excerpt from GDoS]
>
> JL=E2=80=99s Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang (HDAS)
> ha=
> s a
> 1941 citation (as mentioned by JL):
>
> [Begin excerpt from HDAS]
> goof off v. 1. Esp. Mil. To blunder; fumble; GOOF, v., 5. A.
> 1941 Hargrove  Pvt. Hargrove 84: Goof-off =E2=80=93 to make a mistake.
> [End excerpt from HDAS]
>
> Like Fred, I did not attempt a comprehensive search. For this term, I
> just looked in GDoS, HDAS, and OED.
>
> Garson
>
>
>
> On Sun, Jan 1, 2023 at 9:40 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wr=
> ote:
> >
> > HDAS (a resource widely underutilized) has a 1941, from Marion Hargrove's
> > best-selling _See Here, Private Hargrove!_ (pub. July, 1942).
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Sat, Dec 31, 2022 at 2:40 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wro=
> te:
> >
> > > goof off, v. (OED, 1.e., 1952)
> > >
> > > 1942 Yank 2 Dec. 11  He goofed off somehow.
> > >
> > > Fred Shapiro
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >
> >
> >
> > --
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> truth=
> ."
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