# "In a Coon's Age"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-coons-age/247035>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 25, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-coons-age/247035 "2004-05-25T18:58:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kickenit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/838e76/32.png) [@kickenit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kickenit)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-a-coons-age/247035/1 "2004-05-25T18:58:55Z")

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Thanks, Dex, for your smart and sensitive report on the origins of “in a coon’s age,” meaning “in a long time.”

The staff report can be found at [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcoonsage.html](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcoonsage.html)

You lament that there’s no new slang for “in a long time.” African American vernacular English to the rescue!

Yesterday a friend was telling me that a guy he knew had gone to prison for 5 years, and he said, “He went away **for a minute**.”

In this case, the word minute connotes a period of time considerably longer than 60 seconds! In fact, it means “a very long while.” In Philadelphia, where I live, I hear this expression almost every day. Usually the word “minute” is pronounced emphatically, to underline the irony and make it clear that it’s not meant literally.

A few days ago, a co-worker told me he was surprised to see someone who’d been gone a long time: “I haven’t seen him **for a minute!** ” he said.

Dex, thanks again for an informative report!