---------- From: Mike Rosing[SMTP:eresrch@eskimo.com] Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 5:35 PM To: cypherpunks@lne.com Subject: Re: Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks

On Thu, 6 Jun 2002, Tim May wrote:

...

(Booty being a black slang term for ass; no doubt related to "trunk" as body part, as in "swim trunks.")

I always thought it came from pimp slang - booty being what you take as a pirate. My kids love to shake their booty, and have no idea of the history either :-)

Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike

There are doubtless etymologists who could answer this definitively. I don't have aceess to the OED online, which could at least give us info on how far back it goes. The question on hand is the origin of boot (British) vs trunk (American) for the storage at the rear of a sedan car. I really, really don't think either Tim or Mike are on the right track. American pimp slang is very unlikely to have affected British motoring jargon. Instead, I suggest the both 'boot' and 'booty' may come from a much older English usage of 'butt' to refer the the rear end of something - whether a person (buttocks), or the end of a spear or a cigarette (butt). Many horse-drawn coaches (and some early automobiles) had a luggage style trunk strapped on the back for storage. Thiis seems a source for the American 'trunk', and also give an alternative route to 'boot'. Many early automobile terms are from the French (chauffeur, carburetor ), and the French term for 'box' is 'boite', which could easily migrate in British English to 'boot'. Peter Trei