Etymology
Rambhutan
10-07-2008, 10:59
Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "Souped up" - as in a car? Kept me awake last night and I cannot find anything in our rather expensive dictionaries at work.
Hachihyaku
10-07-2008, 11:03
Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "Souped up" - as in a car? Kept me awake last night and I cannot find anything in our rather expensive dictionaries at work.
I've never heard of the phrase "souped up" before ... what is it?
Barringtonia
10-07-2008, 11:08
Does anyone know the origin of the phrase "Souped up" - as in a car? Kept me awake last night and I cannot find anything in our rather expensive dictionaries at work.
No seeming definitive answer - seems to originally be for horses rather than a car, injecting drugs.
There's also some debate over whether it should be 'supe', hence coming from super.
I imagine it's a word from another language, I wonder if it's Gaelic since the Irish have been cheating at the races for centuries. Could be Spanish as well, or German - who knows, Romany - given it seems to be of American origin it could be from anywhere.
Interesting but hardly anything to lose sleep over.
Hachihyaku
10-07-2008, 11:16
No seeming definitive answer - seems to originally be for horses rather than a car, injecting drugs.
There's also some debate over whether it should be 'supe', hence coming from super.
I imagine it's a word from another language, I wonder if it's Gaelic since the Irish have been cheating at the races for centuries. Could be Spanish as well, or German - who knows, Romany - given it seems to be of American origin it could be from anywhere.
Interesting but hardly anything to lose sleep over.
Ahh now I know what phrase the OP was on about.
Longhaul
10-07-2008, 11:16
No seeming definitive answer - seems to originally be for horses rather than a car, injecting drugs.
Aye, there seem to be a few conflicting opinions out there but nothing definitive.
In addition to the racehorse drugging possibility I've seen references to it being slang (amongst safecrackers) for nitroglycerine (http://wordoriginsorg.yuku.com/forum/viewtopic/id/9150) as well as the idea that it might derive from the use of soup as slang for fuel (http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/8/messages/1053.html).
Bouitazia
10-07-2008, 11:40
I always took it to mean, "all filled up with soup/gasoline/fuel and ready to go".
I do not have any sources to back it up with though.
Rambhutan
10-07-2008, 11:59
Interesting but hardly anything to lose sleep over.
Bizarre things keep we awake, I have trouble not thinking about things.
Had never thought of it coming from 'super', that kind of makes more sense than 'soup'.