Degrees of Freedom vs. Hollywood Control Freaks

Trei, Peter ptrei at rsasecurity.com
Fri Jun 7 07:54:55 PDT 2002


> ----------
> From: 	Mike Rosing[SMTP:eresrch at eskimo.com]
> Sent: 	Thursday, June 06, 2002 5:35 PM
> To: 	cypherpunks at 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





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