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Today is the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's assassination. There was a piece in the paper about the last line he heard (apparently one of the funniest in the play) before he was killed, which was: "Don't know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal, you sockdologizing old man trap!" Sockdologizing is new to me. Apparently its origin is from the early 1800s, which makes sense, I guess. Have you heard of it? | ||
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It's interesting in that the word is a nonce word coined by the British author of the play from the (then) American slang sockdolager to give an American flavour to his character's speech. Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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In the Word history it spells it the British way: "sockdologising." | |||
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That makes sense since it was coined over here. Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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