So would I, and that general American English picked it up from Variety, and that Boris Johnson picked it up from American English.
I don't think Variety is claiming to have invented all the words in its list. Sticks, hicks, nix, and flicks al existed before Variety used them, for example.
From a 1916 Navy publication we have this:
"On the starboard side of the for'd turret a bunch of ship's comedians were playing 'socko,' double banking poor Swede Murphy, who was 'it,' with two socks, one of which contained a case-hardened Spalding sphere."
Thank you for that input:)
Oh well, so much for my suggestion that sockerooni schloss might refer to a fancy house lived in my an Italian soccer celebrity...
Well, shall we complicate things?
Sock
1. Comedy, the comic drama, comic acting--A term derived from the Latin soccus, a light, low, soft shoe worn in ancient Greek and Roman comic acting.
2. A tremendously successful show, performer, etc. Hence a sock hit.+ Also as +socko, sokko.
Theatre language: a dictionary of terms in English of the drama and stage from medieval to modern times. Theatre Arts Books, 1961 - 428 pages
The shoe existed, and is the origin of "sock," the thing that goes under shoes. Oxford:
>soccus, the low-heeled, loose-fitting shoe worn by Roman actors of comedy, of Greek origin. The word is often used to symbolize comedy; the poet Milton speaks of ‘Johnson's learned sock’.
I'm not buying it. I think the idea that some performance was so good that it socked you between the eyes, works better. "Sock" as a verb meaning "to hit" dates to at least 1700 and the origin is unknown, although there are speculations.
#13--
I'm sure you're right, nutrax.
Did you know that Mark Twain uses "sock it to him" in A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court?
This is typical Boris Johnson hyperbole. Our London mayor is more popular than ever following the olympics, and is a great orator and comedian. There has been some debate about whether he's future Prime Minister material or whether he's not serious enough. Max Hastings recently commented "I would not trust him with my wife nor with my wallet."
Doesn't that Max Hastings quote imply that he wouldn't trust his wife with Johnson either? I don't think I'd be pleased if I were his wife.
Well, I know I'd be unhappy to be Max Hastings' wife, but you know what I mean.
I wouldn't think he necessarily implies lack of trust in his wife; men don't want their wives to be subject to advances period, whether or not the advances advance anywhere.
Which brings up this comment in a 1945 book on Australian slang: "Socker+ and +socking, as synonyms for an old English vulgarism widely current in this country, are recent inventions."
