The first use of "druthers" that I can recall is by cartoonist Al Capp in his "L'il Abner" comic strip. I began "reading" the strip on my father's lap about 1950. Druthers was one of my father's favourite words, and I know he attributed it to L'il Abner. Capp may not have coined the word, but he certainly did much to popularize it. One of the songs in the 1956 Broadway musical "L'il Abner" was entitled "If I Had My Druthers".