Date: Sat, 24 Jan 1998 23:11:01 -0500 From: Steve Harper Subject: Re: doppkit At 17:54 1/24/98 +0000, Evan Morris may (or may not) have said something like: >> I just ran upstairs and pulled from underneath the bathroom sink my >> zippered leather shaving kit. On the side is a metal label reading >> "DOPP". > >Cool. Now we just have to figure out what that's an acronym for. >-- >Evan Morris >words1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]word-detective.com >http://www.word-detective.com > But is it an acronym??? I've found two very different explanations of its possible origin: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Although I couldn't find an example of the phrase itself, it may, if it is indeed a British military term, have its origins in Hindi because of the British military's long involvement in India. The phrase MAY be a slang from the Hindi "dhob" meaning "washing" so the term might be "wash kit"-- See OED under "dhobi" from Hindi dho[macron]bi[macron] from dhob > "washing", cf. Sanskrit dha[macron]v- The places to search might be in sources for Anglo-British jargon. I must emphasize that this is merely a GUESS! Allen Maberry maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]u.washington.edu ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I have also found two reference to a family named Dopelt who may have manufactured the "kits". Dopp, at last report, is a subsidiary of Buxton. Regards, Steve