I'm curious about smart cookie, which was used in a recent broadcast of A Way With Words that focused on food expressions. Unfortunately, the show didn't give either the meaning or the origin of the idiom.
The Online Etymology Dictionary says smart cookie goes back to 1948 but gives no specifics.
My question is whether smart cookie originally referred to women only, as implied here:
http://membres.lycos.fr/cinemaparlant/a ... ortune.htm
A quick search on Google shows plenty of references to male smart cookies today.
Thanks!
--Cliff
smart cookie
It's interesting that the Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results ... kie&dict=I
is self-consciously gener-neutral in the definitions of both smart cookie and tough cookie, but for both idioms they supply an example referring to a woman.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results ... kie&dict=I
is self-consciously gener-neutral in the definitions of both smart cookie and tough cookie, but for both idioms they supply an example referring to a woman.
I thought about this in conjunction with the nickname of the mess sergeant from Beetle Bailey, a US comic strip dating from 1950. This left me even more confused...In the 70's this expression was probably reserved for the local diner's chef.
Last edited by hcbowman on Wed Jul 27, 2005 8:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Well, that's because he's the cook, not a chef, like Emeril.. . . I thought about this in conjunction with nickname of the mess sergeant from Beetle Bailey, a US comic strip dating from 1950. This left me even more confused...
From the Quick Definition at the OneLook Dictionary site:
So, perhaps your basic chuck wagon cook was not reknowned for his mental abilities. A smart cookie then would be a brighter-than-average cook.noun: the cook on a ranch or at a camp
Hey, it sounds better than that one relating railroad gauges to Roman roads!
Regards//Larry
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Doug Harper records that «cookie» was in use as early as 1920 to refer to persons, but says as little here with respect to gender as he does when tracing the orgin of «smart cookie».
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