[lit-ideas] Re: The Strangers' Club

Howdy, Stranger. I'm not even sure what this conversation is about.

strange
c.1280, "from elsewhere, foreign, unknown, unfamiliar," from O.Fr. estrange (Fr. étrange) "foreign, alien," from L. extraneus "foreign, external," from extra "outside of" (see extra). Sense of "queer, surprising" is attested from c.1374. Stranger, attested from 1375, never picked up the secondary sense of the adj. As a form of address to an unknown person, it is recorded from 1817, Amer.Eng. rural colloq. Meaning "one who has stopped visiting" is recorded from 1530.
'Don't be a stranger.' American colloquial expression meaning 'Y'all come back, now, y'hear?' 

Burt Conroy
Strangelands TX



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