28 Aug 05
Originally posted by NyxieI am on vacation. I've locked myself in my room, boarded up my door and windows, wrapped myself under a blanket with my laptop and a container of root beer, and freed myself from this god damn sex-oriented, male-dominaed, cootie-infested agenda that the world has attempted to bestow on me. *raises container* THE HE-MAN WOMAN HATER'S CLUB! HERE HERE!
You sound kinda stressd. Why don't you take a quick vacation, maybe go to New Orleans for a couple days.
28 Aug 05
Originally posted by seraphimvultureWhat is the name of the Hurricane that you said was comming to get you, or somthing like that.
I am on vacation. I've locked myself in my room, boarded up my door and windows, wrapped myself under a blanket with my laptop and a container of root beer, and freed myself from this god damn sex-oriented, male-dominaed, cootie-infested agenda that the world has attempted to bestow on me. *raises container* THE HE-MAN WOMAN HATER'S CLUB! HERE HERE!
28 Aug 05
Originally posted by shavixmirThe earliest sense of cootie is 'a body louse'. This sense was especially common in World War I, and was popularized by journalistic accounts of soldier life. There aren't any known examples of the word before the war. Other figurative senses used in the war were 'a small vehicle' and 'a repulsive person'.
What is a cootie anyways?
The origin of cootie is uncertain. It is often suggested that it derives from the Malay kutu 'a biting insect', and while this is both semantically and phonetically plausible, there's no evidence that the word was first used in Southeast Asia. Malay is a difficult language to propose without a good explanation of how the word got to the U.S. If some early connection with Southeast Asia could be demonstrated, it would make a strong case, but otherwise we have to say "origin unknown."
The sense your young daughter is asking about has been defined by Jonathan Lighter in The Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang as "an imaginary microbe or repulsive quality thought to be transmitted by slovenly or obnoxious people," with "obnoxious people," at least in the elementary-school stage, meaning 'anyone of the opposite sex'. The earliest written example of this sense that anyone has discovered is in the 1970s, but that's unquestionably much later than the term is first used. Several of the examples refer to the 1950s or 1960s, and you're familiar with the term from about 1962, so it seems very likely that the term existed in the 1950s and probably earlier. Anyone doing research on children's folklore is invited to send in early examples of it, in return for which I'll give you a box of soap, courtesy of Random House, Inc.
from : http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970304
28 Aug 05
Originally posted by Nyxiemhmmm.
The earliest sense of cootie is 'a body louse'. This sense was especially common in World War I, and was popularized by journalistic accounts of soldier life. There aren't any known examples of the word before the war. Other figurative senses used in the war were 'a small vehicle' and 'a repulsive person'.
The origin of cootie is uncertain. It is oft ...[text shortened]... rtesy of Random House, Inc.
from : http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970304
Yes.
I have heard the term used before (in the movie: Hairspray). I never knew the meaning.
And when you offer: "Maybe having cooties is a good thing?" a few posts earlier, you were obviously jesting then? You see, that made me think they were breasts or labia or something.
28 Aug 05
Originally posted by shavixmirNo that's just your dirty mind shavixmir.
mhmmm.
Yes.
I have heard the term used before (in the movie: Hairspray). I never knew the meaning.
And when you offer: "Maybe having cooties is a good thing?" a few posts earlier, you were obviously jesting then? You see, that made me think they were breasts or labia or something.