Send

Posted by R. Berg on June 03, 2001

In Reply to: Earliest use of "you send me" posted by natura1ist on June 03, 2001

: Recently on sci.lang there was a discussion of what "send" means in that phrase "you send me."
: Now I've become curious about the earliest attributed date of use of the phrase. One poster tracked it to a 1947 Popeye cartoon, but I'm sure it was in use earlier than that.

The Dict. of Amer. Slang says of "send," defined as "to send a person into ecstasy; . . . to arouse one's enthusiasm," that it was "orig. used only in ref. to jazz; now anything may be the cause," and gives no date for origin. However, for "sender," defined as "an expert swing or jive musician, whose playing sends one," it says "orig. c1935 swing and jive use." So "send" must have been used that way before 1935.