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stranger
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stranger
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Nice category. These contractions also take place across languages. For example, the somewhat old and now infrequently employed American slang word "hoosegow", used particlarly in western states bordering Mexico, is a slang term for "jail," derived from the Spanish "juzgado."
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stranger
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stranger
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I'm pretty sure if you check that "druthers" was a term coined by Walt Kelly in his famed Pogo comic strip. It is used exclusively in the phrase "If I had my druthers" throughout the history of the strip.
Ef Deal
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old hand
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old hand
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I'm pretty sure if you check that "druthers" was a term coined by Walt Kelly in his famed Pogo comic strip. It is used exclusively in the phrase "If I had my druthers" throughout the history of the strip. Here's what I found: "This is an American phrase and not used widely elsewhere. People elsewhere in the world might want to know what druthers are, as the phrase conveys otherwise. Druthers is a shortening of 'would rathers'. The phrase originated in the late 19th century and is first cited in the January 1870 edition of Overland monthly and Out West magazine, in a story called Centrepole Bill, by George F. Emery: "If I was a youngster, I 'drather set up in any perfession but a circus-driver, but a man can't always have his 'drathers." Druthers, as opposed to its earlier variant drathers, is traced back to 1876 in Dialect Notes: "Bein's I caint have my druthers an' set still, I cal'late I'd better pearten up an' go 'long." So, not coined by Walt Kelly, according to that source (phrases.org). :0)
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old hand
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old hand
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There's no doubt it's a distortion of "I'd rather," but is it possible it has more than one source origin? It wouldn't be too hard to imagine that more than one person could independently come up with it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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it'd rather be easier to believe that Al Capp and/or Walt Kelly "borrowed" it from earlier sources!
-ron occam
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Howdy Strangers, haul up an set a spell. (to go overboard on the western theme  ) edited cos my smily wouldn't
Last edited by Zed; 04/01/08 06:45 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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it'd rather be easier to believe that Al Capp and/or Walt Kelly "borrowed" it from earlier sources!
-ron occam
Now, now--don't go bein' raw knock'em...
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addict
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addict
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...so no one is going to comment on the original post which calls making one Spanish word into one English word a contraction? Oh, wait, I think I just did...
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old hand
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old hand
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...so no one is going to comment on the original post which calls making one Spanish word into one English word a contraction? Oh, wait, I think I just did... It's simultaneously a contraction and a borrowing. Hoosegow, whilst it has more letters than juzgado, has one fewer syllables and is phonemically a contraction of sorts.
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old hand
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...so no one is going to comment on the original post which calls making one Spanish word into one English word a contraction? Oh, wait, I think I just did... Actually, Myridon, I read it as his calling "druthers" a contraction (which it is) and pointing out that this also occurs in other languages, such as Spanish, which it does. The word "juzgado" (literally "judged" = "court"; "jail" is "carcel") is pronounced "hoos-gah-tho". It is very common in all places Spanish is spoken for the "th" sound (letter D) to be dropped, forming a diphthong "ao" or "ow". "Hoosegow" is exactly the phonemic equivalent of "juzga'o", with the exception of the placement of stress on the first syllable rather than on the second (or diphthong). It's simultaneously a contraction and a borrowing. Hoosegow, whilst it has more letters than juzgado, has one fewer syllables and is phonemically a contraction of sorts. I'm not sure, Pook, that this is truly borrowing. The word doesn't mean the same thing in both languages. I think of borrowing as words such as tortilla, tacos, burritos etc. that "generally" (this is commentary on Mexican cuisine made in America - bleh!) refer to the same foods (as an example) in both languages. :0)
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