peigi wrote: > From The Oxford Dictionary of Slang, with date of first > appearance in print using current slang meaning: Chick-1899. I think peigi has almost closed this one now. I hadn't thought of looking in my Dictionary of Slang. It says [1]: "Bunty was the inevitable nick-name of any short, stout man in the military in the late 19th, early 20th century" It quotes another source [2]: "an affectionate term for a small woman of early middle age". And [3] in dialect & the U.S. it usually meant "short and stout" from the Scottish "buntin" of 1665. So that's it, then: Bunty [=buntin] was Scottish, used as a Nick-name for a short, plump person, and was transferred to a fully-fledged given female name. [Unless it also comes from Old English "to butt, like a lamb"!] Perhaps we should call a halt to this thread now. Thanks for all your thoughts and inputs. Best wishes for the New Year Ray Hennessy http://www.whatsinaname.net/index.html ----- Original Message ----- From: "peigi mulligan" <pmulligan@hvc.rr.com> To: <MORAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2005 9:31 PM Subject: Re: Re:[MORAY] Bunty > Ray, > I'm far enough away from the teeming metropolis to not know much about > it. > Just country folk. > Up here in the mountains we're having a warm spell. Temperatures in > the > mid-30 today, with rain; my bones are damp and chilly. Heat wave > yesterday, > in the 50's. > Ironically, in one of the local papers I read today, the topic of one > columnist was slang terms. From The Oxford Dictionary of Slang, with > date of > first appearance in print using current slang meaning: Chick-1899. > Which came first, the chick(en) or the hen (or the bunty?), as the > nursery > rhyme goes........ > > (Ducky-1897;Cat-1920, Fox-1961, Foxy-1895, Turkey-1927) > > This has been the Bees Knees, the Cat's Pajamas, but I've got to > 23-skidoo, > or my husband will 86 me ....... > > I'll send you the article if you'd like. His writing sounds like you. > Is > that an oxymoron? Can writing have sound? > Peigi