Date:  Thu, 20 Apr 1995 07:55:00 EDT

From:  "Dennis.Preston" <22709MGR[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MSU.EDU>

Subject: dupa



Nie, nie,nie! A doofus (see DARE Vol. 1, p. 136) is definitely not Polish for

your backside. That is your dupa. A doofus is more often, according to

DARE, a dolt, stupid person, etc...

How about a new proverbial

-not to know your dupa from a doofus.

P.S.: To Polish speakers. Of course I know that dupa may be used for a stupid

person. It even has the nicely expanded form (which refers exclusively to a

stupid person rather than your backside) - dupa wolowa (literally beef's ass).

Since the report here was about an Italian-American from a richly

Polishly-endowed community (Buffalo), I do not in the least reject

cross-linguistic contamination of one sort or the other. E.g.,

Italian-American hears dupa for ass from Poles, transfers sense to doofus

learned in another area. [Don't overlook duff in all this; apparently a

northern English term which may have played a role in all this backside -

stupid person d+V+labial(+laxV)(+s).]

Friendly South Midlands Polish speaker,

di[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nIs

22709mgr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]msu.edu or preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pilot.msu.edu