Date:  Wed, 28 Jan 1998 23:20:07 -0500
From:  Gregory {Greg} Downing <downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU>
Subject: Kow-tow (Was Re: cow-tow?)

That's a word I'll never forget.... When I was a grad student I taught vocab
etc. for some Chinese-American high-school students in Queens over the
summer one year, when they were preparing for the SAT. One word that was in
the book I was given to teach from was kow-tow, which they were at first
surprised to hear was from a version of Chinese for "knock/bump head" (on
the ground, in a submissive bow). Then some of then said, O yeah, that's
right, we know that phrase in Chinese....

It's not particularly US; OED2 cites it from the first half of the 19C, and
those are UK cites.

Greg D./NYU

At 06:25 PM 1/23/98 -0800, you wrote:
>--
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>I was asked today how to spell "cow-tow" and I couldn't find it in RHDAS or
NDAS . . . probably
>because I couldn't spell it. I tried several possibilities without success
(with a vague
>recollection that it might be spelled with a k). Does anybody know?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Judi Sanders
>
>
>Dr. Judi Sanders
>Professor, Communication
>Cal. State Polytechnic U., Pomona
>The Web: http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~jasanders
>The College Slang Page: http://www.intranet.csupomona.edu/~jasanders/slang
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu