ix222 (11/27/82)
none of the word indices that i have at my disposal tell where the word "nope" comes from. most don't even bother to list it. my own theory: nope is a corruption of "noap"; short for "no soap" that would be hardly arguable, were "noap" only a word. but it isn't and it is. who knows whence "nope"? Steve Serocki sdcsvax;sdccsu3;ix222
deb (11/30/82)
#R:sdccsu3:-16600:uicsovax:16800002:000:318 uicsovax!deb Nov 30 12:35:00 1982 I've thought about the word nope and have justified its origin to myself in this way: it seems physically naturally to close our lips together (approaching the "p" sound) after saying the word 'no'. I suspect 'nope' started from that natural follow-through; maybe even was inspired by children just learning to talk?