Posted Oct 10, 2003 by  Recumbentman
Perish the thought! Who would be so lazy-minded . . .
How about the phrase "I feel like a cuppa, d'you?"  <strain>
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Posted Oct 11, 2003 by Fragilis - h2g2 Cured My Tabular Obsession
I always assumed "cuppa" was lazy for "cup of". The original phrase, then, would have been, "I fancy a cup of coffee/tea." The last word was likely omitted out of yet more laziness. Now the speaker doesn't even have to specify what it's a cup of! How easy is that? 
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Posted Oct 11, 2003 by Recumbentman
Well, yes . . . and anyway it would come out as "a cup o' dew" not Joe.
Must say I never heard the expression "a cup of Joe" . . .
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Posted Oct 12, 2003 by azahar
hi Recumbantman,
Then you have never watched old American films, usually having to do with private detectives and the like. I've also heard it called a cup of mud.
Been looking around on Google and cannot find any definitive origin for the phrase, so perhaps it will have to remain one of those mysteries, like the origin of the word 'okay'.
az
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Posted Oct 12, 2003 by Joe C (goodness me!)
A cup of Joe? Hmm...
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Posted Oct 12, 2003 by Recumbentman
But it's not a mystery, az; it's well explained here.
And okay is not a mystery either; check in The Straight Dope. There's even a Guide Entry about it, though I don't think it is as persuasive as The Straight Dope.
OK stands for Orl Korrect, one of a number of jokey spellings used in American newspapers in the 1830s. Extremely well documented.
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