End of ADS-L Digest - 11 Dec 1997 to 12 Dec 1997 ************************************************ Subject: ADS-L Digest - 12 Dec 1997 to 13 Dec 1997 There are 2 messages totalling 250 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Poker; Jew; Pimp; White House; Java; Johnny Cake; Salt River; at al. 2. Kriss Kringle ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 23:07:37 EST From: Bapopik Subject: Poker; Jew; Pimp; White House; Java; Johnny Cake; Salt River; at al. Here are a few of the items I collected today from the Public Ledger of Philadelphia. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- POKER From the Public Ledger, 11 May 1836, pg. 3, col. 1: They play _Poker_. The two men above named were held in their own recognizance of $100 to appear to-morrow morning at the officer, and a warrant was issued for String; we have no doubt but that his Honor will _poke_ him into jail. OED's earlier "poker" (card game) is also 1836. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- JEW This early citation (but not an antedate) is from the Public Ledger, 28 August 1841, pg. 2, col. 1: After all their pains to "_jew_" the printer, they pursue the very course to get most egregiously "_jewed_" themselves.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- PIMP Tom Dalzell also wanted "pimp" for his SLANG OF SIN. From the Public Ledger, 29 July 1836, pg. 2, col. 4: A parcel of vagabond scamps, some 15 or 20 in number, hooted the defendant, calling him by the opprobrious epthet of "pimp," they being probably aware that he lived in a house of ill fame, or perhaps suspecting it... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- WHITE HOUSE Along with "palace" and "President's house," the "White House" was also this, from the Public Ledger, 20 August 1841, pg. 4, col. 1: The Madisonian has the following account of the disgraceful conduct of rowdies in front of the President's mansion. "A company of individuals collected in Sixth street, near the Avenue, on Monday night, and marched to the Executive Mansion..." O.K., so there's "palace," "President's House," "White House," "mansion," and "Executive Mansion." Is that it? No! This is from the Public Ledger, 4 March 1841, pg. 2, col. 3: EXTRAVAGANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.--The Washington correspondent of the New York Courier says the President elect caused an inquiry to be made, a few days ago, as to the state of the furniture at the 'People's House,' and was astonished to find that there were not beds, bedsteads, or bedding sufficient for his family..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- JAVA What else could follow "White House" but "coffee"? The production for 1841 (Java is second only to Brazil) is given in the Public Ledger, 2 August 1841, pg. 1, col. 6: _Production_.--Brazil 70,000 tons; Java 50,000; Cuba and Porto Rico 25,000; St. Domingo 15,000; British West Indies 6,000; Sumatra 6,000; Moch, &c., 5,000; Ceylon and British India 3,000; French and Dutch West Indies 3,000; Laguira and Porto Cabello 10,000. Total, 193,000 tons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- JOHNNY CAKE I copied a folk etymology a year ago. This is from the Public Ledger, 21 May 1836, pg. 1, col. 4: We beg to correct this corruption of names. The real name is Journey cake; that is, cake made in haste for a journey. _Johnny_ cake! We might as well call it _Tommy_ or _Pelatiah_ cake! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- SALT RIVER "Up the Salt River" would be used in the political campaign of 1840. This is from the Public Ledger, 20 May 1836, pg. 2, col. 2: The Salt River Journal complains that horse thieves are getting to be uncomfortably plenty in that neighborhood.--_Boston Post_. Why don't the _Salt Riverians_ row the thieves up the river? In the west, to be rowed up Salt River is considered as a _finis_. Nothing more can be done. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- PIPE LAYERS OED has 1840, so I can antedate only the verb. This is from the Public Ledger, 28 April 1841, pg. 2, col. 2: If it find among public officers any men addicted to intemperance, gaming, licentiousness, or other vices, any swindlers, any common slanderers, any of those cheats at the polls, now technically called _pipe layers_, it is bound to remove them promptly and indignantly, and will show open, reckless contempt for its moral obligations by the least hesitation. This is from the Public Ledger of 4 May 1841, pg. 2, col. 2: ...one infamously distinguished, for fraud and perjury and _pipe laying_, and all the base acts of the partisan _drummer_ and _borer_. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- LITERARY EMPORIUM Much before "the Hub" and "Bean Town," Boston was the "Literary Emporium." The Public Ledger, 21 April 1836, pg. 2, col. 2, "the 'Literary emporium,' as Kean nick-named it." Edmund Kean was a famous Shakesperean actor. It is curious that DARE, DA, RHHDAS and whatever all don't have the popular folk pronunciation of Boston--"Bosting." Among other places, "Bosting" is in the Public Ledger of 30 July 1841, pg. 4, col. 1. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- "SOUNDING THE SNOOZERS" This is from the Public Ledger, 26 February 1841, pg. 2, col. 2: "SOUNDING THE SNOOZERS" is a cant phrase among the young pickpockets of New York. One of them was caught a night or two ago in fishing a watch from the pocket of a man, who, overcome by his potations, was taking a sleep at his own door. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- HOLY ROLLERS This is in the Dictionary of Americanisms, but the OED and Soukhanov's new Flexner both miss it. The DA (and the RHHDAS) quote another newspaper's reprint a month later, but this is the original, from the Public Ledger, 18 March 1841, pg. 2, col. 4: A NEW SECT.--A new sect of Religionists, so called, has sprung up in Yates county, New York, called the "Sweezyites, or Holy Rollers," an appellation applied on account of their exercises being those of rolling upon the floor. They practice, it is said, an indiscriminate communion of the sexes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- WALK SPANISH In an article about tainted elections, the Public Ledger of 21 October 1841, pg. 2, col. 4, says "let them _walk Spanish_."