dingbat

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William Hupy
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dingbat

Postby William Hupy » Tue Oct 28, 2014 5:42 pm

Any idea where this came from? I recall it is the symbol used by printers.
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Slava
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Re: dingbat

Postby Slava » Tue Oct 28, 2014 6:58 pm

1838, American English, some kind of alcoholic drink, of unknown origin. One of that class of words (e.g. dingus, doohickey, gadget, gizmo, thingumabob) which are conjured up to supply names for items whose proper names are unknown or not recollected. Used at various periods for "money," "a professional tramp," "a muffin," "a typographical ornament," "male genitalia," "a Chinese," "an Italian," "a woman who is neither your sister nor your mother," and "a foolish person in authority." Popularized in sense of "foolish person" by TV show "All in the Family" (1971), though this usage dates from 1905.
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Re: dingbat

Postby Perry Lassiter » Wed Oct 29, 2014 12:34 pm

I got the meaning first from Archie's constant use. Then I was surprised when I ran across the typeface. Used it awhile as a playful code, because it looked like it made no sense, but you could decode it, simply by select all and change the font.
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