"I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today," best I recall was
Wimpy's usual request.
But "wimpy" over here mostly now means sissy and limp-wristed, and that's how I
meant it. If that makes me mean, so be it.
Walt
--
"Anything more than 500 yards from
the car just isn't photogenic." --
Edward Weston
-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Steve Dropkin <steve@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
> Chris Barker wrote:
>
> > On a (almost) related subject, I find it ironic that the word
> > "wimpy" relates to a hamburger chain from the 1960s and 70s. In fact
> > it still exists, but it is much better now than the plastic little
> > grease-sinks that they were in my youth. I should be most interested
> > to know where the word "Wimp" originated.
>
> Actually, the Wimpy's hamburger chain got its name from the
> character Wimpy in the Popeye cartoons. Wimpy was the hamburger
> "connoisseur" who always offered to pay later for the burgers he ate
> *now*.
>
> According to my Oxford American Dictionary, the word "wimp" (in this
> meaning) has an uncertain history, but likely developed in the
> 1920s, possibly as a contraction of the word "whimper".
>
> Steve
>
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