Date:    Thu, 18 Jun 1998 15:26:58 -0400
<br>From:    Jesse T Sheidlower <jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PANIX.COM>
<br>Subject: "skell" update
<br>
<br>A month or so ago we discussed the word _skell_ 'a
<br>despicable person, esp. a derelict or street criminal'.
<br>At the time I thought that the earliest example we had
<br>in the HDAS files was from the early 1970s.
<br>
<br>I've now looked through that section, and while we
<br>still don't have anything as early as the remarkable
<br>1957 cite that Jim Rader proffered, we do have these
<br>two early examples from a prominent writer:
<br>
<br>1960 H. Selby, Jr., in _Provincetown Review_ III 81:
<br>She didn't need any goddamn skell to buy her a drink.
<br>
<br>1957-64 H. Selby, Jr. _Last Exit to Brooklyn_ 88: Of
<br>course some a [sic] the skells from the bar worked
<br>their way up...and grabbed what they could.
<br>
<br>The nuance here seems to be more 'despicable person',
<br>not quite the same as most of the later cites.
<br>
<br>After this we have a jump to the 1970s, but we have
<br>a large number of cites, mostly from police sources,
<br>in the early-mid 1970s.
<br>
<br>Jesse Sheidlower
<br>Random House
<br><jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]panix.com>
<br>