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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread bootleg #83631 10/16/2002 7:42 AM Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 45 perth, western australia zootsuit newbie zootsuit newbie Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 45 perth, western australia I was enjoying an episode of "Seinfeld" last night, the one where a loopy friend of Kramer's illegally videotapes movies (direct from the screen in the cinema) and then sells copies on the street. What is the origin of the term "bootleg"? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: bootleg #83632 10/16/2002 8:15 AM Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 2,204 RhubarbCommando Pooh-Bah RhubarbCommando Pooh-Bah Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 2,204 This is from World Wide Words (link below) BOOTLEG From Jeff Martin: "How did bootleg come to mean something of illegal manufacture?" It's a surprisingly late coinage, first being recorded from Omaha, Nebraska in 1889 (with the related bootlegger being recorded in Oklahoma the same year). Prohibition gave it a huge boost, of course. Bootleg was at first a literal term. In the days when horsemen wore long boots, their bootlegs were good places to hide things. For example, this description comes from The War in Kansas by G Douglas Brewerton of 1856: "He sports a sky-blue blanket overcoat (a favorite color in Missouri), from the side-pocket of which the butt of a six-shooter peeps threateningly out, and if you will take a look into his right bootleg, we should say that a serviceable bowie-knife might be found inserted between the leather and his tucked-in Kentucky jean pantaloons". By an obvious-enough figurative extension, illicit goods that had to be kept hidden were referred to as bootleg commodities. The word seems to have been applied specifically to alcohol at first (again, Prohibition helped that association greatly), though more recently its application has broadened to encompass a whole range of other illicit or pirated goods. World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996-. All rights reserved. http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-boo1.htm Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: bootleg #83633 10/16/2002 1:24 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 From "The Story of English" McCrum,Cran and MacNeill p.242 "At the fontier itself, whiskey was traded unmixed,and often used to corrupt the local Indians. Congress tried to regulate the worst excesses of the liquour tradebut the pioneers tuned to bootlegging (the whiskey would be sold illegally to the Indians in a flat bottle that could literally be carried in the leg of a boot). Bootleg in the sense of an unauthorized sale, has now become part of the language wkith phrases like "the bootleg album." Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: bootleg #83634 10/16/2002 1:57 PM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass tsuwm Carpal Tunnel tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass H.L. Mencken wrote: "I proposed the use of bootician to designate a high-toned big-city bootlegger in the American Mercury, April, 1925.. The term met a crying need, and had considerable success. In March, 1927, the San Jose Mercury-Herald said: 'Our bootleggers are now calling themselves booticians. It seems that bootlegger has some trace of odium about it, while bootician has none.'" I guess bootician must have gone the way of Prohibition. well, not quite (my apologies to teD): Q. Why did the ugly ghost cross the road? A. To visit the bootician. Q. How does a bootician style a ghost's hair? A. With a scare-dryer. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: bootleg #83635 10/17/2002 1:59 AM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Jackie Carpal Tunnel Jackie Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 11,613 Louisville, Kentucky Q. Why did the ugly ghost cross the road? A. To visit the bootician. Q. How does a bootician style a ghost's hair? A. With a scare-dryer. Augh! Did you think these up yourself, Dear One? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: bootleg #83636 10/17/2002 2:08 AM Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass tsuwm Carpal Tunnel tsuwm Carpal Tunnel Joined: Apr 2000 Posts: 10,542 this too shall pass those happened to be the onliest hits on the world wide web for bootician other than the Mencken.. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: bootleg #83637 10/18/2002 7:55 AM Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 45 perth, western australia zootsuit newbie zootsuit newbie Joined: Mar 2002 Posts: 45 perth, western australia thanks 1-and-all: very informative! Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. 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