Timeline for Suffering succotash
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
21 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 27, 2019 at 13:14 | history | protected | CommunityBot | ||
| Aug 12, 2019 at 14:58 | comment | added | nnnnnn | @FumbleFingers - "Cheese and rice" definitely predates that movie: I've encountered it in Rex Stout novels written in the 30s and 40s. | |
| Aug 12, 2019 at 12:32 | answer | added | your_neighbourhood_researcher | timeline score: 0 | |
| Aug 24, 2016 at 2:39 | comment | added | Hot Licks | It should be pointed out that the expression was no doubt explicitly chosen because its sibilant nature highlighted Sylvester's very pronounced lisp. Normally such a feature would discourage the use of a phrase as a minced oath. | |
| Aug 24, 2016 at 2:34 | comment | added | Hot Licks | This book claims that the phrase was in use (by Sylvester) in 1945, or shortly thereafter. | |
| Aug 24, 2016 at 2:32 | comment | added | Hot Licks | I see the same claim about the religious origin of the phrase being made in about ten different web sites, but it is indeed the same claim, clearly copied from a single source. I don't see it as confirmation. | |
| Aug 24, 2016 at 2:16 | answer | added | Sabrina King | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 1, 2015 at 12:52 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | ...and maybe "cheese and rice" does actually predate the 1998 movie 'The Faculty', but I'd be very surprised if that "etymology" is over a century out. | |
| Jan 1, 2015 at 12:51 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | OED's first citation for the "euphemistic" minced oath darn is 1781, Pennsylvania Journal: In New England prophane swearing..is so far from polite as to be criminal, and many..use..substitutions such as darn it. So such prudery shouldn't be pinned exclusively on the Victorians. But I'm far from convinced "Suffering Saviour" ever had any currency as an expletive, so it probably didn't need to be "replaced" anyway. | |
| Jan 1, 2015 at 5:43 | comment | added | Jon Hanna | @BruceJames was the idea that it was in the place of "Suffering Saviour" itself in doubt? I took that as a given, perhaps a consequence of a Catholic (as well as catholic) education. | |
| Jan 1, 2015 at 4:23 | comment | added | Bruce James | @FumbleFingers I'm not sure that the website I cited made this up, as I found the reference in several other sites about Sylvester, including Wikipedia, that made the same assertion. None of them, however, gave a source for the suggestion that "suffering succotash" was a minced oath for "Suffering Savior." | |
| Dec 31, 2014 at 23:46 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackEnglish/status/550437953638785025 | ||
| Dec 31, 2014 at 19:18 | history | edited | Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
Changed formatting so that the quoted portion is shown as a quote
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| Dec 31, 2014 at 18:39 | comment | added | ScotM | Not all the verbal banter of Everyman is documented, but this is clear: two non-existent published exclamations, sufferin' succotash and suffering succotash rose in popularity from the mid 60's and early 70's. That's almost 20 years after WARNER Brothers introduced suferin' succotash with Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, and Sylvester. I would wager Bob Clampett or Mel Blanc gleaned the phrase from Depression banter, when suffering people replaced meat protein in their diets with succotash. | |
| Dec 31, 2014 at 18:30 | comment | added | Suspended User | It's sometimes hard to tell with Looney Toons. For instance, Nimrod was originally a biblical name for a king and mighty hunter. However, after Bugs Bunny's repeated ironic use of the name with reference to Elmer Fudd, it has come to mean a person of diminutive intelligence. My guess would be that it was mostly invented by Loony Toons as succotash "sounds funny". | |
| Dec 31, 2014 at 18:28 | answer | added | Jon Hanna | timeline score: 8 | |
| Dec 31, 2014 at 18:27 | comment | added | Barmar | FYI, these are euphemisms. A malapropism is a mistaken use of a similar-sounding word, not an intentional replacement of a taboo word. | |
| Dec 31, 2014 at 18:02 | comment | added | Andrew Leach♦ | OED has a citation for succotash from 1876, but that's as a foodstuff not a minced oath. However the entry has not been updated since 1915, which predates Sylvester. But if it had been a minced oath before 1915 such a usage is likely to be mentioned, at least. | |
| Dec 31, 2014 at 18:01 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | I think it was an invention by the WB writers. For what it's worth, Google Books does not report a single instance of the phrase (with either sufferin' or suffering) before 1965. | |
| Dec 31, 2014 at 17:56 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I suppose it's possible the expression was used (on rare occasions) in the mid-1800s, but I'd have thought that would be largely irrelevant to it being revived/coined by cartoon characters later. Warner, Disney, etc., wouldn't want any of their target audience to see it as a "minced oath", since that would still be potentially offensive to some. Whatever - my guess is sufferin' succotash is a much more recent coinage, and your website is just making things up. Did any Victorian ever use cheese and rice "euphemistically"? I kinda doubt it, myself. | |
| Dec 31, 2014 at 17:45 | history | asked | Bruce James | CC BY-SA 3.0 |