[lit-ideas] Re: Shrimp
- From: Ceridwen Harris <cmharris@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 15:06:19 -0400
hornswoggled: deceived. The term comes from the traditional image of
cuckolded husbands wearing horns.óEditor ...
http://archive.mayashastra.org/References/Law/hornswoggled.h
tml
[]
At 02:08 PM 13/05/2005, you wrote:
>Julie wrote, re hornswoggled (note that it's apparently one word):
>
> > I wouldn't know, as I only ever heard my Mother speak the saying
> .... I've
> > always wondered where she got it and what it meant or where it came from
> > ....where is JL, indeed? What is horn-swoggling? Why is it a
> "nicety" for
> > "damned"?
>
>I don't think it is a euphemism for 'damned.' It means to cheat,
>deceive, hoodwink, etc., although its first-person use does suggest
>that sometimes it's used as if it were such a euphemism. (Take that,
>Wittgenstein!)
>
>OED:
>
>hornswoggle ('hO:rnswog(&schwa.)l), v. colloq. (orig. U.S.). [Prob.
>fanciful.]
>
>trans. To get the better of; to cheat or swindle; to hoodwink, humbug,
>bamboozle.
>
>'1904 Boston Herald 27 June 6 One practical working theory in
>advertising circles is that the ad's chief function is to hornswoggle
>the consumer. 1911 H. QUICK Yellowstone Nights iii. 82 If you'll stand
>by..and see your old father hornswoggled out of his eye-teeth you'll
>never see a cent of my money. 1958 Spectator 11 Apr. 448/3, I am sure
>the manufacturers hornswoggle us and sell us a lot of useless trim and
>gadgets. 1968 Guardian 28 Feb. 18/8 In this wretched week we get a
>report from the Government Actuary which is quoted to hornswoggle us
>into increased insurance contributions. 1970 Sunday Times 28 June 11/3
>The Americans look for value; you can't..hornswoggle them.'
>
>I hope that Himalayan shrimp are not related to Rocky Mountain oysters.
>
>Robert Paul
>
>
>
>
>
>
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