Quote:
Originally Posted by RickyMaveety
I realize that Shakespeare used it .... as far as I know, it's not used all that much in modern England. Also, in America (specifically, the South), it's Cuz, not Coz.
Unless you are suggesting that the American slaves picked up the usage from their extensive studies of Shakespeare. I think it's a bit unlikely, but I suppose anything is possible. I just haven't heard of many slaves attending Shakespearian productions or actually being allowed to learn to read. So, my thought is that it's an Americanism because it arose independently, in America, without relation to the works of Shakespeare.
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I don't mean that Shakespeare
invented the word, but rather that it was a word that was in common usage in Shakespeare's time. There are a
lot of words which have fallen out of usage in modern British English, but have stayed "current" in American English. It crossed my mind that this could perhaps be such a word.