Talk:grass
Add topicLatest comment: 4 years ago by Equinox in topic Etymology for "police informer" sense
Countable vs. Uncountable?
[edit]Definition 2 "A lawn" doesn't mention whether it's countable or not, I haven't ever heard it people say "grasses" to mean "lawns".
Also, definition 1 countable, do people refer to individual grass plants? Is there even such a thing? Certainly people might say "grasses" to refer to different types of grass.
Someone added two theories about this term's etymology to grass up. Both were later tagged "rfv-etymology". I've moved them here. - -sche (discuss) 17:16, 3 February 2015 (UTC)
- (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) From Cockney rhyming slang: copper → grasshopper → grass.[1]
- (Can this(+) etymology be sourced?) From "snake in the grass", via Virgil's Eclogues ("latet anguis in herba").[1]
Etymology for "police informer" sense
[edit]I've seen it described as rhyming slang, from grasshopper for shopper, i.e. one who "shops" somebody to the police. True or not? If true, we should note this and perhaps even split etymology. Equinox ◑ 20:15, 23 February 2020 (UTC)