Date:    Sun, 17 May 1998 09:50:07 EDT
<br>From:    Bapopik <Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>
<br>Subject: Scumbag; Midget/Dwarf; Pop-Up; Valedictory; Hello; Night Hawks; Gal
<br>
<br>     Here's a ton of stuff.  Perhaps "gal," after further research, will turn
<br>out to be the most important dialect entry.
<br>
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<br>SCUMBAG
<br>
<br>     "Scumbag" appears to be the political epithet of choice.  Dan Burton
<br>recently called President Clinton a "scumbag"--it was all over the news, yet
<br>The New York Times prefered to dance around using the actual word in its
<br>pages.
<br>     In The American Spectator, October 1994, page 16, an editorial discusses
<br>James Carville's use of the term "scumbag" to describe that publication and
<br>its writers.
<br>     Only two song titles came up on a title search:
<br>
<br>1972--"Scumbag" in SOMETIME IN NEW YORK CITY/ LIVE JAM by John Lennon.
<br>(Worldcat curiously has "1940-").
<br>1974--'Scumbag" in CREATURES OF THE STREET by Jobraith.
<br>
<br>     OED has "scumbag" from 1967 for "condom," and from 1971 for "base,
<br>despicable person."
<br>     The RHHDAS and AMERICAN SPEECH have "douche bag" from 1945.  Maybe Jesse
<br>will tell us what "scumbags" await us in the next volume.
<br>
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<br>MIDGET/DWARF
<br>
<br>     This was also recently in the news.  Some City of Houston Equal
<br>Employment hiring person used "midget" instead of "dwarf" and had to resign
<br>because of it, I believe.  Several commentators expressed sympathy and stated
<br>that they would have made the same PC faux pas.
<br>     "Dwarf" (1300 or older) is not an Americanism, but "midget" is of
<br>interest.
<br>     The RHHDAS contains many offensive words, but "midget" is not one of
<br>them.  DARE has an 1851 citation for the "midget" fly (also in the DA).  The
<br>word itself comes from "midge," for "mite" or small thing.  "Midget" appears
<br>to be an Americanism from New England.
<br>     OED's first entry is from Harriet Beecher Stowe's OLD TOWN FOLKS (1869),
<br>"little midget of a man."  A title search shows:
<br>
<br>1879--THE ROYAL OAK MIDGET (Royal Oak, Mich. serial).
<br>1881--THE MOORESVILLE MIDGET (Mooresville, Ind. serial).
<br>1883--THE MIDGET (Cleveland, Ohio serial).
<br>1884--MIDGET A.B.C. BOOK.
<br>1886--THE MIDGET by Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-1896).
<br>1887--THE MIDGET (Rascine, Wis. serial).
<br>1887--THE MIDGET (Syracuse, NY serial).
<br>1887--MAGGIE THE MIDGET by Maggie Mitchell, Boyd's Opera House (Omaha, Neb.),
<br>Oct. 17 and 18.
<br>1889--MIDGET (Dayton, Ohio serial).
<br>1880-1899?--THE MIDGET SONGSTER.
<br>1890--THE MIDGET (Manhattan, Kansas serial).
<br>1893--THE GEORGIA MIDGET:  SKETCH OF MAJ. W. C. HEARD.
<br>1894--YALE MURPHY, THE GREAT SHORT STOP, OR THE LITTLE MIDGET OF THE GIANT NEW
<br>YORK TEAM by Billy Boxer.
<br>1901--THE "MIDGET" LONDON.
<br>1901--PLAT OF THE CLAIM OF THE OVERLAND MINING CO. KNOWN AS THE MIDGET LODE,
<br>IN OVERLAND MINING DISTRICT, FREMONT COUNTY, WYOMING.
<br>1908--THE DAILY MIDGET (Kingfisher, OK serial).
<br>1919--THE MERRY MIDGET by Ralph Mayhew.
<br>
<br>     For the spread (first use?) of "midget," I'd better look at Barnum's
<br>Museum in New York City--this could antedate the "midget" fly citation of 1851
<br>and would clearly beat Stowe's 1869 cite.  The ENCYCLOPEDIA OF NEW YORK CITY
<br>has this under "Barnum, Phineas Taylor" on page 78:
<br>
<br>     Impressario.  In 1841 he took over the site and contents of Scudder's
<br>Museum, a defunct institution at the intersection of Broadway and Ann Street,
<br>and opened the American Museum.  His astute promotion of appearances there by
<br>such performers as the midget Charles Stratton (General Tom Thumb) and the
<br>Swedish soprano Jenny Lind made this the most successful of the many dime
<br>museums in the city.
<br>
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<br>POP-UP
<br>
<br>     VH-1 has "pop-up" videos.  OED has a 1906 "pop-up" from baseball, then
<br>cites a 1934 "pop-up" from Webster and a 1970 "pop-up" toaster.  "Pop-up"
<br>books began in Germany, but it's not clear when they were called that:
<br>
<br>1926--WINNIE-THE-POOH AND THE BEES, A POP-UP PICTURE BOOK by A. A. Milne
<br>(1882-1956).
<br>1878 (1978)--FRANZ BONN'S THE CHILDREN'S THEATRE:  A REPRODUCTION OF THE
<br>ANTIQUE POP-UP BOOK.
<br>1887 (1979)--LOTHAR MEGGENDORFER'S INTERNATIONAL CIRCUS:  A REPRODUCTION OF
<br>THE ANTIQUE POP-UP BOOK.
<br>1890 (1978)--LOTHAR MEGGENDORFER'S THE DOLL'S HOUSE:  A REPRODUCTION OF THE
<br>ANTIQUE POP-UP BOOK.
<br>1890 (1980)--A DAY IN THE ZOO:  REALISTIC PICTURES OF THE BIRDS, BEASTS, AND
<br>FISHES:  A REPRODUCTION OF AN ANTIQUE POP-UP BOOK.
<br>
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<br>VALEDICTORY ORATION (continued)
<br>
<br>     A Worldcat search shows that William Hutchinson (1683-1721) delivered a
<br>valedictory oration at his Master's Degree commencement at Harvard in 1705.
<br>     Why such the long wait then (about 50 years) for our first
<br>"valedictorian"?
<br>
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<br>HELLO (continued)
<br>
<br>     In Ann Sophia (Winterbotham) Stephens's HIGH LIFE IN NEW YORK, BY
<br>JONATHAN SLICK, ESQ. (1854):
<br>
<br>pg. 47:  "Hello, Cousin Jonathan!"
<br>pg. 265:  "'Hello!' sez I agin."
<br>
<br>     The words "gauly-oppalus" (pg. 133), "gaully-oppalus" (pg. 155), and
<br>"gaully offilus!" (pg. 219) were used by Jonathan Slick, but the RHHDAS
<br>doesn't record any such thing, even under "golly."
<br>      At the end of the book, there was an advertisement for Ann Sophia
<br>Stephens's FASHION AND FAMINE (1854), which was "Mrs. Stephens' Great American
<br>Work" and "Most popular book of the day."  One chapter (pg. 267) in the
<br>outline was "The Tombs Lawyer."  I got excited, but alas, no "shyster" in the
<br>entire chapter!
<br>
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<br>NIGHT HAWKS
<br>
<br>     The book TWELVE DAYS IN THE TOMBS (1851) by Jonathan Harrington Greene
<br>also didn't have "shyster."  On page 180, it quoted a letter from a March 18,
<br>1844 "St. Louis newspaper" that said:
<br>
<br>     "...put the 'night hawks' out (meaning the gamblers)..."
<br>
<br>      This beats all but one of the many RHHDAS entries for "night hawk."
<br>
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<br>GAL
<br>
<br>     "Gal" (for "girl") is one of the words I wanted to test on NYU's new
<br>Performing Arts in 1690-1783 Periodicals CD-ROM, but NYU's been closed
<br>evenings and weekends during graduation week.  The RHHDAS and OEDS have 1795.
<br>     Worldcat shows this:
<br>
<br>Massachusetts broadside collection
<br>The broadside "Boston, December 1, 1773" in this collection is a later
<br>facsimile "heliotype from the original" reprinted by S. G. Drake (Boston).
<br>(...)
<br>Bloodgood, Harry.  Yaller gal that winked at me.
<br>Boston, December 1, 1773.
<br>
<br>     Note "yaller gal," and then check the RHHDAS and DARE citations for
<br>"gal."  The word "gal" for "girl" appears to come from African-American
<br>English.
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<br>BOOGIE (WOOGIE)
<br>
<br>      The RHHDAS has 1929 and 1935 citations for "boogie"/"boogie woogie."
<br>It's now clear from these that "boogie" came from ragtime, and ragtime got it
<br>from the popular 1890s word "bogey" or "bogie."  David Shulman recently
<br>studied "bogey" for COMMENTS ON ETYMOLOGY.
<br>
<br>1908--THE BOOGIE BOO by Nat D. Ayer (1887-1952), from the musical comedy THE
<br>NEWLYWEDS AND THEIR BABY.
<br>1912--THE BOOGIE MAN RAG by Terry Sherman (ragtime piano music).
<br>1915--WINN'S HOW TO PLAY POPULAR MUSIC WITH "SWING" BASS:  SHOWS HOW TO USE
<br>THE CORRECT CHORDS FOR PIANO AND EASY BOOGIE WOOGIE BEATS; ENABLES ANYONE TO
<br>PLAY ALL THE LATEST SHEET MUSIC AT SIGHT by Edward R. Winn (Winn chord method
<br>of popular music and modern novelty piano playing, no. 1).
<br>1917--BOOGIE RAG by Wilber C. Sweatman (for dance orchestra).
<br>
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<br>MOJO
<br>
<br>      The earliest citation in the RHHDAS is 1926.
<br>
<br>1923-1928 recordings--MOJO STRUT by Perry Bradford's Jazz Phools on the album
<br>NEW YORK TO CHICAGO 1923-1928.
<br>1924-1926 recordings--MOJO BLUES by Louie Austin and her Blue Serenaders
<br>(another version of this is in 1923-1926 recordings in Chicago for the
<br>Paramount label; "Lovie" Austin is given credit).
<br>1926--LOW DOWN MOJO BLUES by Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897-1929).  The RHHDAS
<br>has a 1928 "Mojo Woman Blues" by Jefferson, but this title is earlier.
<br>
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<br>MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY
<br>
<br>"The record shows I took the blows and did it my way."--Frank Sinatra.
<br>
<br>     "My way or the highway" doesn't seem to be recorded anywhere.  Here goes:
<br>
<br>1994--MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY by Tony Rebel (song).
<br>1991--MY WAY ON THE HIGHWAY, JSP Records.
<br>1991--MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY: THE HAWKINS COUNTY TEXTBOOK CONTROVERSY by David
<br>B. Dellinger (Ed. D. thesis at Univ. of Tenn.-Knoxville).
<br>1988--YOUR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY by Blake Babies (song).
<br>1988--MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY by Jimmy Davis & Junction (song used in movie A
<br>NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4).
<br>1960--A HIGHWAY COMING MY WAY? by North Carolina State Highway Commission,
<br>Public Relations Department.
<br>1946--THE (THY in 1st ed.) HIGHWAY IS MY WAY: NARRATIVES FOR CHILDREN IN
<br>INTERPRETATION OF THE COMMANDMENTS (2nd ed.; 1st edition is 1930) by Edward
<br>Kuhlmann.
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<br>MUST-SEE
<br>
<br>    Continuing the "must-see tv" thing.  Worldcat shows a bunch of must-sees:
<br>
<br>1981--WHAT YOU MUST SEE IN THE BRITISH ISLES by Jo Darke.
<br>1957--YOU MUST SEE THE NEW 1957 AMERICAN CHARACTER DOLLS.
<br>1954--I MUST SEE SWITZERLAND by Ira David Landis (1899-1977).
<br>1949--YOU MUST SEE CANADA by Cecil Carnes.
<br>1886--CINCINNATI INDUSTRIAL EXPOSITION 1886 STRANGERS' GUIDE: CONTAINING WHAT
<br>YOU SHOULD SEE! WHAT YOU OUGHT TO SEE! WHAT YOU MUST SEE! AND OTHER VALUABLE
<br>INFORMATION.
<br>1881--I MUST SEE ROME: A SERMON PREACHED AT BROOKLINE, MASS., APRIL 24, 1881
<br>by Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909).
<br>
<br>    I must see Machu Picchu, and I'll be off the internet on July 19.  If
<br>anyone wants to come fly with me, we'll go down to Peru.
<br>