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What a Corker!

Posted by ESC on August 03, 2000

In Reply to: What a Corker! posted by James Briggs on August 03, 2000

: In Britain this means that someone or something is extra special. There's no mention of discussion in the archive. Any ideas where it came from?

A CORKER - "something or someone remarkable, 1891; corking, also 1891," according to Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1982). Mr. Flexner doesn't include information about the origin of the word.

In Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume 1, A-G by J.E. Lighter (Random House, New York, 1994), it says, "CORK.1851 Hall 'College Wds.' 85: Cork. Calk. In some of the Southern colleges, this word, with a derived meaning, signifies a 'complete stopper.' Used in the sense of an entire failure in reciting; an utter inability to answer an instructor's interrogatories." and "CORKER n. 1. A hard or finishing blow; (hence) (obs.) that which settles an issue.2.a) a stiff drink of liquor.b) a person or a thing of extraordinary size, effectiveness, quality, etc; a remarkable person or thing.c) an attractive young woman; knock-out. 3. Baseball, a fly ball."

My theory is: Meaning 1 under "corker," a finishing blow which settles an issue, gave rise to the other uses.

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