[Ads-l] antedating ninja

[Amy West]

On 7/13/26 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:

> Date:    Sun, 12 Jul 2026 05:36:24 +0000
> From:    Bill Mullins<amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject: antedating ninja
>
> ninja adj. OED has 1966
>
>
> 1959 Alex C. D. Noe,  Above the Rim and Other Poems 16
>
>   Just take a ninja rubber ball
> An’ bounce it up an’ down, nat’s all.
>
> https://archive.org/details/aboverimotherpoe0000alex/page/15/mode/1up?q=ninja
I don't think this is the ninja you think it is.

This "ninja" seems to me to be really "an inja" ["Indian"] (Indian 
rubber ball). Note the "nat's all", suggesting  reductions and linking 
for "and that's".

---Amy West

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