“Coffee (n): the person upon whom one coughs” is a jocular definition that has been cited in print since at least 2005. WPM Invitational (often confused with the Washington Post) has this definition at the top of a list.
“Coffee (n): an attitude adjustment in a mug,” “Coffee (n): break fluid” and “Coffee (n): survival juice” are other coffee definitions.
WPM Invitational
Word Play Masters Invitational
For years an email has been circulating about the “Washington Post’s Mensa invitational” which includes a very clever list of words made by changing common words.
(...)
THIS SITE IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE WASHINGTON POST!
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1. Coffee , n. The person upon whom one coughs.
OANDA Forex Forum
tsch
Feb. 1, 2005 21:59:00
Trivia
The ANNUAL NEOLOGISM CONTEST
Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. And the winners are:
1. Coffee (n.) the person upon whom one coughs.
jessification
THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2005
coffee= the person on whom one coughs
Google Books
Be a Poet!
By Nancy Bogen
New York, NY: Twickenham Press
2007
Pg. 106:
Coffee (n.): “the individual upon whom one coughs.”
Twitter
John McGrath
@Wordie
Coffee: The person upon whom one coughs http://wordie.org/lists/coffee-house
5:20 AM - 12 Mar 09
Twitter
Funny One Liners
@funnyoneliners
Coffee (n.); The person upon whom one coughs.
5:05 AM - 13 Oct 09
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•“I came, I saw, I coffee’d” (7/25)
•“Love ordering food hate answering the door” (7/25)
•“Can anyone tell me what oblivious means? I have no idea” (7/21)
•“Sundays were made for good coffee, good music, and being lazy with the people you love” (7/21)
•“The people who currently own this world don’t care which ruler you choose. They care only that you keep choosing to be ruled” (7/21)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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