[Ads-l] Antedating of "Bug" (Verb, To Annoy Or Bother)

[Shapiro, Fred]

bug (OED, v1, 4., 1947)

1928 Prison Mirror (Stillwater, Minn.)  21 June 4/2 (GenealogyBank)  First thing I know those birds will bug me !

1928 Kansas City Post 14 July 12/1 (Newspapers.com)  Methodism may officially ask the minister what's bugging him.

1932 Detroit Times 20 July 13/1 (GenealogyBank)  He complained to Fred that people were bugging him for tips.

1933 Detroit News 25 May 16/3 (GenealogyBank)  If that doesn't work we "bug" him to death ...if you pester a man enough he'll come around to your way of thinking.

1933 Border Cities Star (Windsor, Ontario) 12 Oct. 4/6 (Newspapers.com)  The crew kept bugging him for more concrete proof.

NOTE: The OED states that this was "Originally chiefly in jazz slang." although I have seen no actual evidence of that and 1928 was a little early in the development of jazz slang.


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