SUNDOWNERS



From Sundae to Sundowner (now historical). This phrase is in the DA from

1904 for this use. This is from the Asbury Park Daily Press, 13 January 1900,

pg. 2, col. 3:



QUEER LOT OF MEN.

To Be Found in No Other American

City But Washington.

Those Familiar with Their Ways Call

Them "Sundowners"--They Are

Victims of Cowardice and

Self-Indulgence.



This is the story of "The Sundowner;" and it has never before been told.

Probably no other city in the world--certainly no other city in this

country--has such a goodly number of these people as can be found in our

national capital.

Scholars tell us that all discussion should be preceded by definition;

and that many great debates have been caused by lack of understanding of terms

on the part of those in dispute. Therefore, the learned men tell us, every

term should be properly defined by a public speaker or writer, in order that

the listener or reader may the better apprehend what is intended to be

conveyed.

Well, "a Sundowner" is a man who practices a profession in this city

after the working hours of the day have passed away, and when men in the

learned professions have laid aside their books, their papers, their clients

and patients, and dismissed them from their minds. "A Sundowner goes to work

when other men have ceased their daily labors and endeavors. "A Sundowner" is

liable to work long after sundown; probably until midnight, or even later. It

is because he practices his profession after sundown that he is called a

Sundowner.

These people work all day; that is, from nine o'clock in the morning

until four o'clock in the afternoon. (...)



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