[Fredslist] Razzing

[Fred Klein]

If you have ever read some of "Hard Hitting" ( hereinafter "HH") Don Bernstein's hard hitting observations on me (did you see the tricycle photo last Friday?) You know that "Razzing" is not a lost art-at least as practiced by HH. His style is just short of insulting and is a sort of reverse pandering (let me let you in on a secret, he gives me advance warning of his latest shot at me, which is a sort of veto opportunity which I never exercise). Said another way, HH's razzing strives to be done with a tongue in cheek literary loving (?) smile. In this way he strives to get away with his just within the line teasing   defamation (it is open to opinion as to whether it falls just within or out of line). One thing is clear, inorder to be humorous razzing must  be witnessed by others.  What better way to do it than in a blog or on fredslist?  This all got me thinking and researching as to the derivation of razzing. I resorted to my trusty Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase & Fable which informs that Razz is short for Raspberry which is a 20th-century slang expression for showing contempt (take notice HH) for someone. It ends up that raspberry is short for 'raspberry tart' which, according to the book is "RHYMING SLANG for fart". So there HH!
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