Re: [tied] Re: Wuz

At 6:45:53 AM on Thursday, July 15, 2004, tgpedersen wrote:

> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <BMScott@...> wrote:

[...]

>> That's not quite the original sense, however. The American
>> word earlier had only the sense 'drunk, tipsy'. Moreover,
>> it is first noted only in 1897 (OED), though Mencken thought
>> that it was one of a group of synonymous slang terms dating
>> to the decades preceding the U.S. Civil War.

> 'befuddled, intoxicated' is what I find, so 'drunk' is not
> the primary sense, and I don't find that as primary in the
> examples either.

I have no idea where you're looking. 'Drunk, tipsy with
drink' is the oldest attested sense of the U.S. word.

Brian