Wordsmith Talk |
About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | |||
Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums (Old) Weekly themes. (have been consolidated into a single forum above) Beheading words puttee
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
OP
Gothamite. Resident of New York City. In his Phrase and
Word Origins, Alfred H. Holt claims that this term was first
applied to New Yorkers in 1805 by Washington Irving.
(Mathews's Dictionary of Americanisms has an Irving
citation form 1807.) Holt explains Gotham for New York
thus: "The inhabitants of Gotham, in England, had long been
celebrated as fools (though one story has it that they got their
reputation by playing the fool intentionally to avoid the
expense of having to entertain the king). Irving's satirical
application of the name to New York was an allusion to the
Manhattanite's traditioanl air of 'knowing it all.'" Gotham
City is the home of comic book hero Batman, and across the
river is New Guernsey.
Entire Thread Subject Posted By Posted puttee wwh 02/07/03 03:56 PM Re: goody wwh 02/07/03 04:05 PM Re: goombah wwh 02/07/03 04:07 PM Re: goombah Buffalo Shrdlu 02/07/03 07:05 PM Re: goombah wwh 02/07/03 07:42 PM Re:goombay wwh 02/07/03 04:09 PM Re: goondie wwh 02/07/03 04:21 PM Re:goshenite wwh 02/07/03 05:36 PM Re: gossipred wwh 02/07/03 05:45 PM Re: gossipry wwh 02/07/03 05:49 PM Re:gothamite wwh 02/07/03 05:56 PM Re: grabbots wwh 02/07/03 06:05 PM Re: graben wwh 02/07/03 06:09 PM
Moderated by Jackie
Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics Forums16Topics13,913Posts229,430Members9,182 Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now 0 members (), 659 guests, and 1 robot. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days) A C Bowden 19
Top Posters wwh 13,858Faldage 13,803Jackie 11,613wofahulicodoc 10,598tsuwm 10,542LukeJavan8 9,922Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210AnnaStrophic 6,511Wordwind 6,296of troy 5,400
Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org