Date:    Fri, 20 Feb 1998 16:07:20 -0600
<br>From:    Mike Salovesh  t20mxs1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CORN.CSO.NIU.EDU 
<br>Subject: Re: canoodle [long]
<br>
<br>Jim Rader wrote:
<br>
<br>  Ms. Lubell--
<br> 
<br>  Seeing that you sent a query about the etymology of _canoodle_ both
<br>  to this office (left on an editor's voicemail) and the list, I will
<br>  reply to both at the same time.  Sorry if this is too late for your
<br>  deadlines.
<br> 
<br>  An article by B.J. Whiting that appeared in _American Speech_ in 1945
<br>  seems to have been overlooked in the recent discussion of this word.
<br>  Whiting pointed out that the acceptance of _canoodle_ as an
<br>  Americanism in the standard dictionaries was questionable.
<br>
<br>                                 snip 
<br>
<br>When the thread on "canoodle" began, I had a vague memory of running across
<br>that word in a different context: classic mystery novels by British authors.
<br>The recollection is getting stronger, but I haven't identified the source . .
<br>.  the word was put in the mouth of a "great detective" character with lots of
<br>persona-setting individual speech mannerisms (and, as I recall, a large middle
<br>reminiscent of Nero Wolfe).  I'm pretty sure that the author was John Dickson
<br>Carr/
<br>Carter Dickson.  (Same author, two noms de plume.)
<br>
<br>Following up on this lead, I just talked to a colleague who collects mystery
<br>novels.  She couldn't help with a Carr/Dickson cite (partly because she doesn't
<br>like locked-room mysteries in the first place), but she suggests that her only
<br>familiarity with the word canoodle comes out of the British side of the
<br>Atlantic.  She has the impression that the word does turn up in  mysteries by
<br>several British authors writing in the 1920s/1930s.  Nope, no citations came to
<br>mind.
<br>
<br>I'll keep following this lead until my curiosity bone stops itching.  Just
<br>thought I'd pass it on FWIW.  Anyhow, I really DO like the Dickson/Carr
<br>oeuvre.  It will be fun to go back to it.
<br>
<br>-- mike salovesh
<br> salovesh[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]niu.edu 
<br>    anthropology department
<br>    northern illinois
<br>university                                                        PEACE !!!
<br>