Cartoon from Portsmouth Daily Times (Portsmouth Ohio) 12 June 1922, page 1. “Pop says I’m a bad boy ‘n maw says I’m cunning now who the dickens can I believe anyway?
Recently the word cunnin(g) was brought up in a FaceBook discussion group, as to whether or not it was New England slang. To be honest, I am not certain. But it was in a New Hampshire household where I heard it used first. I suspect it was perhaps Irish in origin, or at the least a New England country slang word.
I have personal remembrances of hearing the word cunnin‘ used by my mother who was born and raised in New Hampshire. When she used the word, it was always in reference to a baby or small child, implying by her usage of someone cute, pretty, and precious. My mom loved poetry, so it would not be a great stretch for me to think she learned it through reading, rather than from her parents. She always pronounced the word clearly, ‘cunnin’ with no sound of the ‘g‘ as shown in the cartoon shown to the left in this article.
