Date:  Tue, 8 Apr 1997 10:16:04 -0500
<br>From:  Mark Mandel  Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DRAGONSYS.COM 
<br>Subject: Tipping -Reply
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<br>    Leslie Dunkling  106407.3560[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM  0408.0620    
<br>The supposed acronymic origin of tip (in its gratuity sense) is an old
<br>chestnut. It ranks with the `port out starboard home' explanation of posh.
<br>As Larry Horn implies,
<br>
<br>  fanciful nonsense is often more appealing than etymological fact.
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<br>[spacing added -- MAM]
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<br>Has anyone ever tried to explain this general phenomenon?
<br>
<br>    Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com
<br>  Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
<br> 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/
<br>      Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/
<br>