Date:    Thu, 7 May 1998 12:29:57 -0400
<br>From:    Alan Baragona <baragonasa[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VAX.VMI.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: cod fax
<br>
<br>At 11:54 AM 5/7/98 EDT, RonButters wrote:
<br>>In a message dated 5/7/98 8:53:51 AM, downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU wrote:
<br>>
<br>><<"Cod" (noun and verb) is a long-standing UK term for a trick or various
<br>>other kinds of insincerity; the word appears in Joyce's work from the early
<br>>20th century.>>
<br>>
<br>>I'm sure COD appears in Shakespeare in this sense (TWELFTH NIGHT maybe?)
<br>>
<br>
<br>Apparently not.  I don't have a concordance handy, but these are the only
<br>citations for "cod" that show up in the MIT Shakespeare search engine:
<br>
<br>OTHELLO    Act 2, Scene 1
<br>
<br>To change the cod's head for the salmon's tail; [text]
<br>
<br>KING LEAR Act 3, Scene 2
<br>
<br>The cod-piece that will house [text]
<br>
<br>Marry, here's grace and a cod-piece; that's a wise
<br>=========================================
<br>
<br>Matty Farrow's search site in Australia turns up only the Lear citations.
<br>
<br>OED2's earliest citation for "cod" as a verb meaning to trick is 1873:
<br>
<br>cod, v.3 slang or dial. [perh. f. cod sb.5 in sense `fool'.] trans. `To hoax, to
<br>take a "rise" out of' (Slang Dict. 1873); to humbug, impose upon. Also intr., to
<br>play a joke, to `kid', to sham; to burlesque (see also quot. 1933). So
<br>
<br>'codding vbl. sb.
<br>
<br>    1884 Cheshire Gloss., Coddin, humbugging. `Tha'st only coddin me
<br>    as tha allus does; tha'l none tay me to see th' fair.'
<br>
<br>As a noun there is
<br>
<br>cod, sb.6 dial. [perh. f. cod v.3] (See quot.)
<br>
<br>    1887 S. Cheshire Folk-sp., Cod, a humbug, imposition..`That
<br>    hoss-duty was a regilar cod of a thing.'
<br>
<br>and
<br>
<br>2. A joke; a hoax, leg-pull; a parody, a `take-off'. (See also E.D.D. sb.5) Also
<br>attrib. or quasi-adj., parodying, burlesque; `mock'.
<br>
<br>    1905 Sketch LI. 472/2 Says he: `Is that an absolute bargain-no cod?'
<br>    Says she: `I don't know what the fish has to do with it, but I am
<br>    perfectly sincere.'
<br>
<br>So 1873 is the earliest date the OED2 has for this meaning.
<br>
<br>AB
<br>