Meade asked why I said "tromp," instead of "tramp," and I said "tromp" — which has a whiff of "stomp" — seems to suggest a heavier, clumsier stepping about in a more localized place, perhaps inside, and "tramp" seems more like a journey somewhere — maybe off into a landscape. Also, with "tramp," you might feel the leakage of slutty women and hobo men.
In the (unlinkable) OED, I discovered that "tromp" is a "variant... of tramp" that's mostly American dialect. Some notable examples make the Americanness really pop:
1895 S. Crane Red Badge of Courage x. 105 Yeh wanta go trompin' off.I like how most of those examples confirm my sense that tromping happens in a more localized space — like your brain, when the guilt-trippers get there.
1902 Dial. Notes 2 248 He tromped my toe.
1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary vi. 54 You'll tromp on a loose boa'd and find yoself downstairs befo you know hit....
1952 E. Ferber Giant xx. 334 You want to look out, Bick, she don't get tromped the way they're milling around today....
1962 J. Steinbeck Trav. with Charlie i. 12 About that time hurricane Donna was reported tromping her way out of the Caribbean.
1974 J. Irving 158-Pound Marriage v. 117 Edith heard Frau Reiner and the Chetniks whispering and tromping about in the living room....
16 comments:
I've never slept with a tromp!!
That was a Tromp L'Oeil of a etymological post.
Tromp Doyle -- that's what Walker did.
Walking, tromping, trumping...
"... the leakage of slutty women and hobo men."
I need a mental paper towel for that.
I am Laslo.
Tromp trumps Tramp.
I am Laslo.
The Donald said he alone trumped Romney into quitting.
The Treading of feet means a host of enemies is coming near. That is why troops are marched by to impress watchers.
Trounce.
Remedial schooling by Althouse - Once upon a time I was hitchhiking out in the back roads of of greater Madison looking like quite the tramp. However, I was wearing a Packer Cheesehead and an "I Stand with Walker" sign, so Meade decided to pick me up for a ride back to town. I complemented him on his ride and he tromped on the pedal and the TT thew us back in our seats.
Got it!
s/b threw
"... the leakage of slutty women and hobo men."
Jesus, I just saw a picture of a crude urethral syringe used to treat gonorrhea aboard Blackbeards ship.AA musta seen it also
I am not a pirate
My father raised both cotton and sheep on our farm in Texas. As a boy, I had two chores that required me to "tromp" -- tromping cotton as we stripped it from the field so that we could fit more in the trailers and tromping wool as we sheared the sheep so that we could fit more fleeces in the sacks. We only used "tromp" for those tasks, both of which were limited to small areas!
Funny, when I first read this my mind went to "tramp" as in "trollop"
Laslo has gotten into my head.
You tromp through the snow to visit a tramp. Not hard....
In German, "trampen" means to hitchhike, but I'm guessing that's a back-formation from the English.
1881 J C Harris Tales of Uncle Remus 57 "You'll trompel on dat bark twel hit won't be fit ter ter fling 'way let 'lone make hoss-collars out'n, said Uncle Remus, as the little boy came running into his cabin out of the rain."
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