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RARA-AVIS: Mystery Enc. Definition of Hard Boiled
For those, like Jiro, who desire a definition of hard boiled that
appears in a mystery encyclopedia, there is a lengthy discussion
in William L. DeAndrea's ENCYCLOPEDIA MYSTERIOSA (Prentice Hall,
1994). Unfortunately, it is two pages long, but here is a comment
about the origin of the term:
"The term hard-boiled has been around since WWI, during which
(according to mystery novelist Donald E. Westlake) it was an
adjective applied to the tough drill sergeants who made men out
of boys and soldiers out of civilians. When the war ended, those
soldiers turned back into civilians, popularizing the term hard-
boiled into something referring to any person, or action,
that reflected a tough, unsentimental point of view."
There is a lot more, but I thought people would be interested in this.
Richard King
rking@vunet.vinu.edu
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