Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 23:11:01 -0500

From: Steve Harper sharper[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]FOTO.INFI.NET

Subject: Re: doppkit



At 17:54 1/24/98 +0000, Evan Morris may (or may not) have said something like:

I just ran upstairs and pulled from underneath the bathroom sink my

zippered leather shaving kit. On the side is a metal label reading

"DOPP".



Cool. Now we just have to figure out what that's an acronym for.

--

Evan Morris

words1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]word-detective.com

http://www.word-detective.com





But is it an acronym??? I've found two very different explanations of its possible origin:



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Although I couldn't find an example of the phrase itself, it may, if it is indeed a British military

term, have its origins in Hindi because of the British military's long involvement in India.

The phrase MAY be a slang from the Hindi "dhob" meaning "washing" so the term might be

"wash kit"--

See OED under "dhobi" from Hindi dho[macron]bi[macron] from dhob "washing", cf. Sanskrit

dha[macron]v-

The places to search might be in sources for Anglo-British jargon.

I must emphasize that this is merely a GUESS!



Allen Maberry

maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]u.washington.edu

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I have also found two reference to a family named Dopelt who may have manufactured the "kits".



Dopp, at last report, is a subsidiary of Buxton.



Regards,

Steve