A propos of nothing, except it is once again Friday afternoon and time for time-wasting, where does the expression dreamboat come from?
I looked it up in the Oxford and all it says is: "informal. a very attractive person, especially a man." Nothing there about the origin of the word.
I can understand the "dream" part, but "boat"? Why would we call somebody a boat?
9 comments:
"boat" variation on "butt"?
tho "butt" is not much of a 1950's/early '60's word and I think of "dreamboat" as something sandra dee might say about tab hunter, for instance
I like the idea of you in the OED, looking up "dreamboat"
Friday afternoon, indeed
It's a Concise OED and sits happily on my desk. I refer to it all the time for work- and non-work-related words.
Tab Hunter was certainly a dreamboat. There's a certain type of man who is a dreamboat, no?
Clooney's a dreamboat, but Rafe isn't.
you're right about george-
but how to describe your ralph/rafe properly? consult the oed (of which I am jealous) further?
Hmm. The online etymology dictionary says this:
Dreamboat "romantically desirable person" is from 1947.
So obviously, come event in 1947 directly led to the creation of the term "dreamboat." Apparently on January 10th, the United Nations took control of Trieste. Trieste is a pretty kick-ass city, so that's my guess.
Ooh, Dennis DeYoung of Styx was born in 1947. That's an amazing year!
Gasp. Could this be the first ever mention of Styx, either on the blog or in the comments? It's a banner day. How could we have avoided them for so long?
James Joyce and his kids had a family joke about their unhappy times living in Trieste. They said they were triste in Trieste. Imagine how awful it must've been to be one of the Joyce kids and have to deal with multilingual punning at a young age.
Dennis DeYoung is NOT a dreamboat.
Now I've got Suite Madame Blue on the brain. Shit.
not mention chrystal baaaaaa-aaallll
Thanks. At the very least I should tell them their entry for dreamboat should have an accompanying photo of Clooney.
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