[Ads-l] gobshite, gobshike

[Jonathan Lighter]

Early:

1914 _Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)  (May 1) 1: "Gob" and "gobshite" are the
words most used by the blue-jacket in speaking of himself.

Late:

1920 _Passaic Daily Herald_ (Apr. 24) 7: Old-time sailor men differ as to
the origin of the word Gobshike, and some of the sailor men of a quarter
century ago contend that it just happened.

1922 _Beaumont [Tex.] Enterprise_ (Aug. 11) 8: Gobshite Hurlers Warming Up
On Deck Of Battleship.

1924 _Enid [Okla.] Daily Eagle_ (June 12) 4: No valorous deed...ever could
justify...the cut of such trousers as gobshikes wear perforce.

Weird:

1898 _Wilmington [Del] Daily Republican_ (June 2) 5: This popular [angling]
refrain will not be tolerated:

               Minnie, minnie gobshite,
               Bite at me.
               Down goes the cork
               And up comes she.


"Gobshite" is used in Irish English for a worthless individual, presumably
the origin of the naval term.

JL
-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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