Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 19:44:23 EST From: Bapopik Subject: Nothing Doing; Goat I forgot to post two more antedates. Sorry. Please don't make to much of the headline. I have no romantic interest in goats. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- NOTHING DOING Both the RHHDAS and Christine Ammer's DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS give the OEDS 1910 citation for "nothing doing." This is from SPORTING LIFE, 14 October 1905, pg. 17, col. 3: "NOTHING DOING" ---------------------------- AT THE NATIONAL BOARD'S CIN- CINNATI MEETING. ---------------------------- Owing to the Absence of Witnesses In the Griffith Case the Hearing Is Put Over to October 14, When It will Go on in New York City. On 9 December 1905, pg. 14, col. 1, SPORTING LIFE ran a "SOMETHING DOING" headline. "Nothing doing" and "something doing" were also present in various stories at this time, both referring to these league meetings. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------- GOAT David Shulman found an early baseball "goat" (scapegoat) from the 1880s. "Goat" was also a player's nickname. The RHHDAS has that it is "A Weshman--used derisively." A 1922 quote (referring to 1885?) has "A Frenchman is a 'frog,' a negro a 'coon' and a Welchman a 'goat.'" This is from SPORTING LIFE, 4 May 1907, (can't read page), col. 4: "It's easy to guess how Anderson is named 'Goat,'" remarked Ed Ballinger, the local paragrapher. "He hails from the Indiana coal country. Scores of Welshmen live out that way. To some people every man from Wales is styled a 'goat.'"