Monday, November 08, 2010
Etymology Monday: Who is Josh?
Fret not, dear readers, for part 2 of my 15 Authors post is still coming. I have a request to honor for Etymology Monday today, though, so today we find out something I hadn't even thought to consider before; when you are "just joshing someone," which Josh are you invoking?
My hypothesis before researching this was that once in the mists of etymology, there was a guy named Joshua and he was kind of a dick. As it turns out, that's not too far from the truth. The OED attributes the verb "to josh" as a reference to Josh Billings, the pen name of an American humorist named Henry Wheeler Shaw. Shaw lived from 1818-1885, and Wikipedia has given him the honor of being " second most famous humor writer and lecturer in the United States in the second half of the 19th century after Mark Twain."
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| Although they're neck-and-neck in moustache cultivation. |
- "As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand."
- "About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment."
- "Don't take the bull by the horns, take him by the tail; then you can let go when you want to."
- “I think when the full horror of being fifty hits you, you should stay home and have a good cry.”
- "I wud as soon take a ten dollar kounterfit bill on the Kodfish Bank ov Nufoundland, as tu marry a woman with false hare, false teeth or a false buzzum."
Labels: Etymology Monday
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