End of ADS-L Digest - 4 May 1998 to 5 May 1998
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<br>There are 8 messages totalling 498 lines in this issue.
<br>
<br>Topics of the day:
<br>
<br>  1. Scumbag; Spongeworthy; Banana Oil (2)
<br>  2. ADS-L Archive Search
<br>  3. Latest news from ACLS
<br>  4. Law/Principle of Least Effort
<br>  5. Calls for Papers
<br>  6. Among the New Words (2)
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<br>
<br>Date:    Wed, 20 May 1998 00:39:53 EDT
<br>From:    Bapopik <Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
<br>Subject: Scumbag; Spongeworthy; Banana Oil
<br>
<br>SCUMBAG
<br>
<br>     The best place to look for "scumbag" is on the bathroom wall.
<br>Fortunately, a past president of the American Dialect Society has already
<br>looked.
<br>      Unfortunately, I didn't buy Allen Walker Read's CLASSIC AMERICAN
<br>GRAFFITI (originally published in 1935 but reprinted by Maledicta Press) and
<br>NYU's copy is stolen (perhaps the NYPL's also).  People on this list have it,
<br>though.
<br>      Is there a "scumbag" in there?  Also, did he check women's bathrooms?
<br>      It's interesting to see if this word comes from male or female speakers,
<br>and if it's applied to males or females.  The male/female bathroom separation
<br>makes epithet analysis easier.
<br>      I'd also look for "douchebag," and "sleazebag" and "slimebag" (some
<br>speakers drop the "ball").
<br>
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<br>SPONGEWORTHY
<br>
<br>     The RHHDAS doesn't have "Master of Your Domain."  I wouldn't leave out
<br>SEINFELD's "spongeworthy," but I might add it to WAYNE'S WORLD's "We are not
<br>worthy!"
<br>
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<br>BANANA OIL
<br>
<br>     The RHHDAS has this from 1924.  I was checking Maurice Horn's 100 YEARS
<br>OF AMERICAN NEWSPAPER COMICS for "Abie the Agent," and "Banana Oil" is on page
<br>46, col. 1.
<br>     The "Banana Oil" comic strip by Milt Gross ran in the NEW YORK WORLD from
<br>December 1921 until the end of the WORLD in 1930.  In each strip, someone
<br>would declare "Banana oil!" in the last panel.  Horn writes:
<br>
<br>     In 1926 it evolved into the top strip of the author's new Sunday color
<br>feature, _Nize Baby_, distributed by the _World_'s Press Publishing Company.
<br>(...) The expression was adopted throughout the 1920s as a catchphrase
<br>signifying amused disbelief at a really egregious piece of cant, much as the
<br>later and still-used "baloney" that replaced it.
<br>