G.I.
Most people nowadays know that a G.I. is an American soldier and that the term is popularly associated with the Second World War, but few know what the abbreviation G.I. originally stood for or that the term predates WWII by some decades.
G.I. was originally a semi-official U.S. Army abbreviation for galvanized iron, used in inventories and supply records. It dates to at least 1907 and is commonly found in records from the First World War. From Col. Frank P. Lahm's Diary of 1917:
[Lympe, England] is a large depot where machines are delivered for forwarding to France. 12 large hangers [sic], brick, G.I., about 75 ft wide by 150 ft long.
It was also used during WWI in the phrase G.I. can, meaning a German artillery shell. From Casey's Cannoneers, 24 September 1918:
At 11 o'clock he started to drop G.I. cans into our woods.
This was often clipped to just G.I. From Bliss's 805 Pioneer Infantry of 1918:
There's about two million fellows, and there's some of them who lie
Where eighty-eights and G.I.'s gently drop.
Also during that war, G.I. started to be interpreted to mean government issue and it came to be applied as an adjective to denote anything having to do with the army. From a caption to a cartoon in the December 1918 issue of La Trine Rumor:
A G.I. Christmas
By the next war, G.I. had acquired the meaning of an enlisted soldier. It was so glossed in a 1939 issue of Bugle Notes:
G.I., n., An enlisted man.
The term G.I. Joe got its start as the title of a comic strip by David Breger that appeared in Yank magazine in 1942.
Some have interpreted G.I. as an abbreviation for general infantry. This is incorrect. General infantry has never been a term of art, officially or unofficially, in the U.S. Army.
Word Origins
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Brothel
Brothel derives, through the Middle English broþel, from the Old English bréoðan, meaning ruined or degenerate. It is a variant of the word brethel, meaning a good-for-nothing, a wretch.
The original sense was of a worthless or degenerate person and dates to around 1393, from John Gower's Confessio Amantis:
Quod Achab thanne, There is one, A brothel, which Micheas hight.
A century later, the term was used to refer to a prostitute. From the 1535 Works of Bishop John Fisher:
Why doeth a common brothel take no shame of hir abhomination?
The sense meaning an establishment that houses prostitutes comes from the form brothel-house, from the 1493 Festivall:
He . . . went agayne to a brodelles hous.
By 1593, the -house had been dropped and this clipped form has survived. From the Works of Henry Smith:
Some [return] unto the taverns, and some unto the alehouses..and some unto brothels.
Despite the similarity in appearance and meaning, the word is etymologically unrelated to bordel or bordello, which come from Portuguese and Italian respectively.
Brothel derives, through the Middle English broþel, from the Old English bréoðan, meaning ruined or degenerate. It is a variant of the word brethel, meaning a good-for-nothing, a wretch.
The original sense was of a worthless or degenerate person and dates to around 1393, from John Gower's Confessio Amantis:
Quod Achab thanne, There is one, A brothel, which Micheas hight.
A century later, the term was used to refer to a prostitute. From the 1535 Works of Bishop John Fisher:
Why doeth a common brothel take no shame of hir abhomination?
The sense meaning an establishment that houses prostitutes comes from the form brothel-house, from the 1493 Festivall:
He . . . went agayne to a brodelles hous.
By 1593, the -house had been dropped and this clipped form has survived. From the Works of Henry Smith:
Some [return] unto the taverns, and some unto the alehouses..and some unto brothels.
Despite the similarity in appearance and meaning, the word is etymologically unrelated to bordel or bordello, which come from Portuguese and Italian respectively.
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Chad
The Florida vote-counting debacle during the 2000 US presidential election brought this rather obscure and obsolescent word chad to the attention of the public. A chad is that bit of paper left behind when punch cards and paper tape are perforated. Since most of the computing world has abandoned punch cards and paper tape, the term has fallen out of use except in specialized applications such as voting.
The origin of the word is unknown. There are several possibilities and a couple of commonly touted explanations that are almost certainly false. While chads have been with us since the automated machinery was introduced into 18th century textile mills at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the word chad itself is relatively new and the name appears toward the end of the technology's life cycle.
The first known use of chad is in a 1939 patent application (US Patent # 2,273,909) by the Teletype Corporation:
The present innovation provides a perforating arrangement whereby the perforations are not completely cut out, but the chads are permitted to remain attached to the perforated material.
There is also the adjective chadless, referring to perforation that does not leave chads behind (important because the bits of paper can foul machinery). This appears in 1947.
So where does it come from? There are several, possibly all related, words that are similar from other industries. One such is the Scots word chad, which Warrack's Scots Dialect Dictionary defines as:
chad n 1 compacted gravel. 2 small stones forming a river bed. 3 a rough mixture of earth and stones, quarry refuse.
It is a small semantic leap from quarry refuse to paper refuse. There is also an English dialect word chat, meaning a wood chip. And there is, of course, chaff, the leavings from threshing grain. Any or all of these could have influenced chad, but we really don't know for sure.
There are two proferred explanations that we can definitely discount though. Chad is sometimes said to have come from a certain Mr. Chadless, who invented a chadless keypunch. Chad, in this explanation, is a back formation from chadless. But no record of any such man has been found and what evidence we do have suggests that chadless followed chad, not the other way around.
The second false explanation is that it is an acronym for Card Hole Aggregate Debris. As with most proferred acronymic origins, this one is bogus on its face.
The Florida vote-counting debacle during the 2000 US presidential election brought this rather obscure and obsolescent word chad to the attention of the public. A chad is that bit of paper left behind when punch cards and paper tape are perforated. Since most of the computing world has abandoned punch cards and paper tape, the term has fallen out of use except in specialized applications such as voting.
The origin of the word is unknown. There are several possibilities and a couple of commonly touted explanations that are almost certainly false. While chads have been with us since the automated machinery was introduced into 18th century textile mills at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the word chad itself is relatively new and the name appears toward the end of the technology's life cycle.
The first known use of chad is in a 1939 patent application (US Patent # 2,273,909) by the Teletype Corporation:
The present innovation provides a perforating arrangement whereby the perforations are not completely cut out, but the chads are permitted to remain attached to the perforated material.
There is also the adjective chadless, referring to perforation that does not leave chads behind (important because the bits of paper can foul machinery). This appears in 1947.
So where does it come from? There are several, possibly all related, words that are similar from other industries. One such is the Scots word chad, which Warrack's Scots Dialect Dictionary defines as:
chad n 1 compacted gravel. 2 small stones forming a river bed. 3 a rough mixture of earth and stones, quarry refuse.
It is a small semantic leap from quarry refuse to paper refuse. There is also an English dialect word chat, meaning a wood chip. And there is, of course, chaff, the leavings from threshing grain. Any or all of these could have influenced chad, but we really don't know for sure.
There are two proferred explanations that we can definitely discount though. Chad is sometimes said to have come from a certain Mr. Chadless, who invented a chadless keypunch. Chad, in this explanation, is a back formation from chadless. But no record of any such man has been found and what evidence we do have suggests that chadless followed chad, not the other way around.
The second false explanation is that it is an acronym for Card Hole Aggregate Debris. As with most proferred acronymic origins, this one is bogus on its face.
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Riot Act, Reading the
Britain's Riot Act of 1715 stated that when 12 or more people were engaged in a riot, any magistrates on hand could command them to disperse. Anyone not obeying the command could be arrested for a felony. So reading the Riot Act is a public warning of dire consequences if certain behavior is to continue. The act was superseded by the Public Order Act of 1986.
Britain's Riot Act of 1715 stated that when 12 or more people were engaged in a riot, any magistrates on hand could command them to disperse. Anyone not obeying the command could be arrested for a felony. So reading the Riot Act is a public warning of dire consequences if certain behavior is to continue. The act was superseded by the Public Order Act of 1986.
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Hogan's Goat
The phrase like Hogan's goat refers to something that is faulty, messed up, or stinks like a goat. The phrase is a reference to R.F. Outcault's seminal newspaper comic Hogan's Alley, which debuted in 1895. The title of the strip changed to The Yellow Kid the following year.
Various references to Hogan's goat can be found throughout the early 20th century, usually in reference to a person named Hogan. The earliest metaphorical reference I have found is in the Washington Post on 9 April 1940:
The fans will love it. They don't know a thoroughbred from Hogan's Goat.
And there is this which was published in the World War II Times at some point late in the war:
An old Navy descriptive phrase for total confusion is "fouled up like Hogan's goat." This is an accurate account of a PBY early wartime patrol that was, indeed fouled up like Hogan's goat and therein lies a tale.
The phrase like Hogan's goat refers to something that is faulty, messed up, or stinks like a goat. The phrase is a reference to R.F. Outcault's seminal newspaper comic Hogan's Alley, which debuted in 1895. The title of the strip changed to The Yellow Kid the following year.
Various references to Hogan's goat can be found throughout the early 20th century, usually in reference to a person named Hogan. The earliest metaphorical reference I have found is in the Washington Post on 9 April 1940:
The fans will love it. They don't know a thoroughbred from Hogan's Goat.
And there is this which was published in the World War II Times at some point late in the war:
An old Navy descriptive phrase for total confusion is "fouled up like Hogan's goat." This is an accurate account of a PBY early wartime patrol that was, indeed fouled up like Hogan's goat and therein lies a tale.
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Tabloid
This journalistic term has two distinct meanings, a newspaper that specializes in sleazy, sensational stories and a newspaper printed on smaller paper that folds like a book (as opposed to a broadsheet, the traditional newspaper format).
Tabloid appears about 1840 in the world of medicine in reference to drugs in a concentrated form. Around 1900, the term transferred to journalism in reference to news that was presented in an abbreviated and easily read (and often sensational) format.
The introduction of the smaller page in lieu of the traditional broadsheet happened about the same time--the smaller format being easier to read on public transport, which appealed to a different reader demographic, one who wanted more sensational stories--and the name stuck to the page size as well.
This journalistic term has two distinct meanings, a newspaper that specializes in sleazy, sensational stories and a newspaper printed on smaller paper that folds like a book (as opposed to a broadsheet, the traditional newspaper format).
Tabloid appears about 1840 in the world of medicine in reference to drugs in a concentrated form. Around 1900, the term transferred to journalism in reference to news that was presented in an abbreviated and easily read (and often sensational) format.
The introduction of the smaller page in lieu of the traditional broadsheet happened about the same time--the smaller format being easier to read on public transport, which appealed to a different reader demographic, one who wanted more sensational stories--and the name stuck to the page size as well.
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Polka Dot
Where did this name for round circles of dye on clothing originate? And what, if anything, does it have to do with the dance of the same name?
In the 1840s, the polka was sweeping America. It was the latest dance craze, like the Charleston of the 1920s or the Macarena of a few summers ago. In an effort to cash in on the fad, manufacturers began naming all sorts of thing polka. Polka gauze, polka hats, polka curtain bands and many other products with the polka name hit the market in the 1840s. Although, the actual term polka dot is not attested to until 1866. Of these, only polka dots survive today.
The term polka dot first appears in the New York Times on 21 Sep 1866: "It is effectively trimmed with anumber of rows of silk galloon of the same shade, with black or white brocaded polka dots."
There are two possible origins for the word polka. It could come from the Czech pulka, or half-step, Pul meaning half. Or, it could be a combination of the polonaise and mazurka.
Where did this name for round circles of dye on clothing originate? And what, if anything, does it have to do with the dance of the same name?
In the 1840s, the polka was sweeping America. It was the latest dance craze, like the Charleston of the 1920s or the Macarena of a few summers ago. In an effort to cash in on the fad, manufacturers began naming all sorts of thing polka. Polka gauze, polka hats, polka curtain bands and many other products with the polka name hit the market in the 1840s. Although, the actual term polka dot is not attested to until 1866. Of these, only polka dots survive today.
The term polka dot first appears in the New York Times on 21 Sep 1866: "It is effectively trimmed with anumber of rows of silk galloon of the same shade, with black or white brocaded polka dots."
There are two possible origins for the word polka. It could come from the Czech pulka, or half-step, Pul meaning half. Or, it could be a combination of the polonaise and mazurka.
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Orange
The color is named after the fruit. The English derives from Old French, but originally it comes from the Arabic naranj. Cognates are found in the Tamil, Hindi, and Persian. Since the fruit was (probably) native to India, the origin is in the languages there, but the exact origin has long been lost to the ages.
The House of Orange (referring to the Dutch royal family or William and Mary of England) and the use of the term in reference to Irish politics is of a different origin. It derives from the town of Orange on the Rhone river in France and is etymologically unrelated to the color or the fruit.
The color is named after the fruit. The English derives from Old French, but originally it comes from the Arabic naranj. Cognates are found in the Tamil, Hindi, and Persian. Since the fruit was (probably) native to India, the origin is in the languages there, but the exact origin has long been lost to the ages.
The House of Orange (referring to the Dutch royal family or William and Mary of England) and the use of the term in reference to Irish politics is of a different origin. It derives from the town of Orange on the Rhone river in France and is etymologically unrelated to the color or the fruit.
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Hermetic Seal
A hermetic seal is one that is air-tight, or in other words, tightly closed. Hermetic seems to be a reference to Hermes, the ancient Greek messenger-god. But how did Hermes become associated with an air-tight seal?
In the third century A.D., the philosophical school of the Neo-platonists arose in Alexandria. They associated the Egyptian god Thoth, the god of alchemy and mystical secrets and inventor of a magical seal, with Hermes, calling him Hermes Trismegistus. In the seventeenth century, English writers began using the adjective hermetic to refer to things that were sealed or secret. From Jeremy Taylor's 1663 Sermon preached at the funeral of John (Bramhall) late Lord Archbishop of Armagh:
Not nature, but grace and glory, with an hermetic seal, give us a new signature.
So Hermes is associated with the seal only through the habit of conquering nations to associate their gods with the local gods.
A hermetic seal is one that is air-tight, or in other words, tightly closed. Hermetic seems to be a reference to Hermes, the ancient Greek messenger-god. But how did Hermes become associated with an air-tight seal?
In the third century A.D., the philosophical school of the Neo-platonists arose in Alexandria. They associated the Egyptian god Thoth, the god of alchemy and mystical secrets and inventor of a magical seal, with Hermes, calling him Hermes Trismegistus. In the seventeenth century, English writers began using the adjective hermetic to refer to things that were sealed or secret. From Jeremy Taylor's 1663 Sermon preached at the funeral of John (Bramhall) late Lord Archbishop of Armagh:
Not nature, but grace and glory, with an hermetic seal, give us a new signature.
So Hermes is associated with the seal only through the habit of conquering nations to associate their gods with the local gods.
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Bit / Byte
Many people wonder where these two computer terms come from. Of the two, bit is older, dating to 1948. It first appears in A Mathematical Theory of Communication by C.E. Shannon in Bell Systems Technical Journal in July and October of that year. (This paper is one of the seminal works of modern information theory. The fact that it is the first known use of bit is simply a footnote to its scientific importance.) In the paper, Shannon credits a J.W. Tukey with the coinage:
The choice of a logarithmic base corresponds to the choice of a unit for measuring information. If the base 2 is used the resulting units may be called binary digits, or more briefly bits, a word suggested by J. W. Tukey.
As Shannon indicates, bit is an abbreviated form of binary digit, chosen probably because it is also a play on the meaning of the standard word bit signifying a small part.
The term byte is of less certain origin, but probably was coined by someone at IBM (perhaps a Dr. Werner Buchholz) around 1964. The word byte is a play on bit. The original sense of the term was the amount of data required to represent one character–usually, but not always, eight bits. Over time, the predominant sense shifted to mean eight bits exactly.
Some have suggested that it is an abbreviation for BInary digiT Eight and that the Y was substituted for the I so to prevent typographical confusion with bit. Another suggestion is that it is from BinarY TErm. Neither of these claims is well substantiated and are probably false.
Also playful, but less well known, is the term nybble or nibble, meaning half a byte, or four bits.
Many people wonder where these two computer terms come from. Of the two, bit is older, dating to 1948. It first appears in A Mathematical Theory of Communication by C.E. Shannon in Bell Systems Technical Journal in July and October of that year. (This paper is one of the seminal works of modern information theory. The fact that it is the first known use of bit is simply a footnote to its scientific importance.) In the paper, Shannon credits a J.W. Tukey with the coinage:
The choice of a logarithmic base corresponds to the choice of a unit for measuring information. If the base 2 is used the resulting units may be called binary digits, or more briefly bits, a word suggested by J. W. Tukey.
As Shannon indicates, bit is an abbreviated form of binary digit, chosen probably because it is also a play on the meaning of the standard word bit signifying a small part.
The term byte is of less certain origin, but probably was coined by someone at IBM (perhaps a Dr. Werner Buchholz) around 1964. The word byte is a play on bit. The original sense of the term was the amount of data required to represent one character–usually, but not always, eight bits. Over time, the predominant sense shifted to mean eight bits exactly.
Some have suggested that it is an abbreviation for BInary digiT Eight and that the Y was substituted for the I so to prevent typographical confusion with bit. Another suggestion is that it is from BinarY TErm. Neither of these claims is well substantiated and are probably false.
Also playful, but less well known, is the term nybble or nibble, meaning half a byte, or four bits.
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Balls To The Wall
The phrase balls to the wall, meaning an all-out effort, comes from the world of aviation. On an airplane, the handles controlling the throttle and the fuel mixture are often topped with ball-shaped grips, referred to by pilots as (what else?) "balls." Pushing the balls forward, close to the front wall of the cockpit increases the amount of fuel going to the engines and results in the highest possible speed.
The earliest written citation is from 1966-67, appearing in Harvey's Air War:
You know what happened on that first Doomsday Mission (as the boys call a big balls-to-the-wall raid) against Hanoi oil.
Several Korean War-era veterans have written me noting their use of the term during their service. The phrase may very well date to this earlier war, although we have no written evidence for it.
There are two common misconceptions about the phrase. The first is that it is a reference to a part of the male anatomy.
The second is that it arose in railroad work. A speed governor on train engines would have round, metal weights at the end of arms. As the speed increased, the spinning balls would rise--being perpendicular to the walls at maximum speed. But there is no evidence to support this story. No use of the phrase is known to exist prior to the mid-1960s, and all the early cites are from military aviation.
The phrase balls to the wall, meaning an all-out effort, comes from the world of aviation. On an airplane, the handles controlling the throttle and the fuel mixture are often topped with ball-shaped grips, referred to by pilots as (what else?) "balls." Pushing the balls forward, close to the front wall of the cockpit increases the amount of fuel going to the engines and results in the highest possible speed.
The earliest written citation is from 1966-67, appearing in Harvey's Air War:
You know what happened on that first Doomsday Mission (as the boys call a big balls-to-the-wall raid) against Hanoi oil.
Several Korean War-era veterans have written me noting their use of the term during their service. The phrase may very well date to this earlier war, although we have no written evidence for it.
There are two common misconceptions about the phrase. The first is that it is a reference to a part of the male anatomy.
The second is that it arose in railroad work. A speed governor on train engines would have round, metal weights at the end of arms. As the speed increased, the spinning balls would rise--being perpendicular to the walls at maximum speed. But there is no evidence to support this story. No use of the phrase is known to exist prior to the mid-1960s, and all the early cites are from military aviation.
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Green Room
The exact origin of this theatrical name for the room in which actors wait for their cues is not known. It probably refers to a room that was actually painted green, but which room and which theater is lost to the ages. The earliest uses are in reference to the London theater. From Colley Cibber's 1701 Love Makes A Man:
I do know London pretty well, and the Side-box, Sir, and behind the Scenes; ay, and the Green-Room, and all the Girls and Women~Actresses there.
There is lots of theatrical folklore associated with the name, none of it with any basis in fact. Often it is stated that the room is green because this is a soothing color–which is probably not true as this relies on 20th century psychological theory. Another story is that it is called green because the actors would also be paid here–but English money isn't green like U.S. currency. Besides, in 1701 they would most likely be paid in coin, not notes.
The exact origin of this theatrical name for the room in which actors wait for their cues is not known. It probably refers to a room that was actually painted green, but which room and which theater is lost to the ages. The earliest uses are in reference to the London theater. From Colley Cibber's 1701 Love Makes A Man:
I do know London pretty well, and the Side-box, Sir, and behind the Scenes; ay, and the Green-Room, and all the Girls and Women~Actresses there.
There is lots of theatrical folklore associated with the name, none of it with any basis in fact. Often it is stated that the room is green because this is a soothing color–which is probably not true as this relies on 20th century psychological theory. Another story is that it is called green because the actors would also be paid here–but English money isn't green like U.S. currency. Besides, in 1701 they would most likely be paid in coin, not notes.
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Hooky
This Americanism meaning to skip school probably comes from the Dutch hoekje, a name for the game of hide and seek. It is first recorded in the late 1840s. The metaphor behind it is one of skipping school to play games.
From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 17 June 1842:
"When I was a child," says the apostle, "I thought as a child," &c., "but when I became a man, I put away childish things."—That is, if we rightly understand the language, he no longer drove the hoop, shot marbles, flyed kites, (not even after the Wall street fashion,) hunted birds' nests, played "hookey," and chased butterflies, with eyes nearly starting from their sockets with excitement.
And from 5 June 1846:
A mother, perhaps, has a favorite young son, who "begs off" from school, or "plays hookey."
It is often suggested that it may instead come from the verb to hook it, meaning to run away or clear out. This verb is about a century older in Britain, but does not appear in the US until well after the 1840s, so it is unlikely to be the origin of the Americanism.
This Americanism meaning to skip school probably comes from the Dutch hoekje, a name for the game of hide and seek. It is first recorded in the late 1840s. The metaphor behind it is one of skipping school to play games.
From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 17 June 1842:
"When I was a child," says the apostle, "I thought as a child," &c., "but when I became a man, I put away childish things."—That is, if we rightly understand the language, he no longer drove the hoop, shot marbles, flyed kites, (not even after the Wall street fashion,) hunted birds' nests, played "hookey," and chased butterflies, with eyes nearly starting from their sockets with excitement.
And from 5 June 1846:
A mother, perhaps, has a favorite young son, who "begs off" from school, or "plays hookey."
It is often suggested that it may instead come from the verb to hook it, meaning to run away or clear out. This verb is about a century older in Britain, but does not appear in the US until well after the 1840s, so it is unlikely to be the origin of the Americanism.
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Glitch
Glitch is from the German glitschen, via the Yiddish gletshn, meaning to slip. The term is technical jargon in the electronics world to describe what happens when the inputs of a circuit change. When this occurs, the outputs briefly spike to some random value before settling to the correct value. If the circuit is queried during a glitch, a wildly inaccurate response may result. From this it acquired a more general sense meaning any malfunction.
The term gained popular currency through the U.S. space program. From John Glenn's 1962 Into Orbit:
Another term we adopted to describe some of our problems was ‘glitch’. Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical circuit which takes place when the circuit suddenly has a new load put on it . . . A glitch . . . is such a minute change in voltage that no fuse could protect against it.
Glitch is from the German glitschen, via the Yiddish gletshn, meaning to slip. The term is technical jargon in the electronics world to describe what happens when the inputs of a circuit change. When this occurs, the outputs briefly spike to some random value before settling to the correct value. If the circuit is queried during a glitch, a wildly inaccurate response may result. From this it acquired a more general sense meaning any malfunction.
The term gained popular currency through the U.S. space program. From John Glenn's 1962 Into Orbit:
Another term we adopted to describe some of our problems was ‘glitch’. Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical circuit which takes place when the circuit suddenly has a new load put on it . . . A glitch . . . is such a minute change in voltage that no fuse could protect against it.
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Cocktail
Perhaps H.L. Mencken said it best:
The cocktail to multitudes of foreigners, seems to be the greatest of all the contributions of the American way of life to the salvation of humanity, but there remains a good deal of uncertainty about the etymology of its name and even some doubt that the thing itself is of American origin.
Nowadays, we're somewhat more certain that the word is American in origin than Mencken was, but there is still considerable question about its exact etymology. The explanation best supported by the evidence is that the noun meaning a mixed, spiritous drink is taken from an earlier adjectival use meaning something stimulating or that would "cock one's tail."
The earliest known use of cocktail is from The Farmer's Cabinet, 28 April 1803:
Drank a glass of coctail–excellent for the head . . . Call'd at the Doct's. found Burnham–he looked very wise–drank another glass of cocktail
A somewhat earlier citation, from 1789 in The Prelateiad; or, the Rape of the Holy Bottle, links the general adjective with liquor and its effects:
All Ceylon's spicy gifts its moisture mends, And Kyan's Pep. its cock-tail virtue lends.
The context is apparently that of alcoholic drinks (Kyan's Pep. is probably a reference to cayenne pepper).
The general adjectival use stretches back to at least 1600, when it is found in Samuel Rowlands's The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine:
How cock-taile proude he doth his head aduance How rare his spurres do ring the moris-daunce.
There are various other explanations that appear from time to time, but none are well supported by evidence. Perhaps the most commonly told one is that it is from the French coquetier, or egg-cup. According to this story, the cocktail was invented in New Orleans, circa 1795, by Antoine Amédée Peychaud, an apothecary from Santo Domingo. Peychaud, who is famous as the inventor Peychaud bitters, held social gatherings for fellow Masons at his pharmacy at 437 rue Royale. He would serve brandy toddies to which he would add his own mixture of bitters and would serve in an egg-cup. The drink acquired the name of the cup, but English speaking guests would call it a cocktay, which eventually became the cocktail. The specificity of the details, Peychaud's renown as a mixologist and the date provide circumstantial credence to this explanation, but there is no direct evidence to support it.
Another explanation has the word deriving from the French coquetel, a drink known in the Bordeaux region for several centuries. According to this account, the drink and its name were introduced to America by French officers during the American Revolution. Again, there is no evidence for this.
Yet another is that it is from cock-ale, a drink popular in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, but to the modern palate seems a bit disgusting. To a cask of new ale was added a sack containing an old rooster, mashed to a pulp, raisins, mace, and cloves, and the mixture was allowed to infuse for a week or so. From Kenelm Digby's The Closet of Sir K.D., written sometime before 1648:
To make Cock-Ale. Take eight Gallons of Ale; take a Cock and boil him well.
Or, the explanation could be a prosaic one, that it comes from the practice of inserting rooster feathers into a drink, much like we do today with paper umbrellas.
Finally, here is one that is certainly false, but it has a wonderful folkloric quality to it. According to the tale, long ago an Aztec noble, in an attempt to curry favor, sent the emperor a drink by the hand of his daughter, Xochitl. The emperor liked the drink so much that he married the daughter and named the concoction after her. The term was introduced to the United States by soldiers returning from the Mexican-American War (1846-47). A great story, but alas the evidence shows that the word cocktail was in use more than forty years before that war.
Perhaps H.L. Mencken said it best:
The cocktail to multitudes of foreigners, seems to be the greatest of all the contributions of the American way of life to the salvation of humanity, but there remains a good deal of uncertainty about the etymology of its name and even some doubt that the thing itself is of American origin.
Nowadays, we're somewhat more certain that the word is American in origin than Mencken was, but there is still considerable question about its exact etymology. The explanation best supported by the evidence is that the noun meaning a mixed, spiritous drink is taken from an earlier adjectival use meaning something stimulating or that would "cock one's tail."
The earliest known use of cocktail is from The Farmer's Cabinet, 28 April 1803:
Drank a glass of coctail–excellent for the head . . . Call'd at the Doct's. found Burnham–he looked very wise–drank another glass of cocktail
A somewhat earlier citation, from 1789 in The Prelateiad; or, the Rape of the Holy Bottle, links the general adjective with liquor and its effects:
All Ceylon's spicy gifts its moisture mends, And Kyan's Pep. its cock-tail virtue lends.
The context is apparently that of alcoholic drinks (Kyan's Pep. is probably a reference to cayenne pepper).
The general adjectival use stretches back to at least 1600, when it is found in Samuel Rowlands's The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-Vaine:
How cock-taile proude he doth his head aduance How rare his spurres do ring the moris-daunce.
There are various other explanations that appear from time to time, but none are well supported by evidence. Perhaps the most commonly told one is that it is from the French coquetier, or egg-cup. According to this story, the cocktail was invented in New Orleans, circa 1795, by Antoine Amédée Peychaud, an apothecary from Santo Domingo. Peychaud, who is famous as the inventor Peychaud bitters, held social gatherings for fellow Masons at his pharmacy at 437 rue Royale. He would serve brandy toddies to which he would add his own mixture of bitters and would serve in an egg-cup. The drink acquired the name of the cup, but English speaking guests would call it a cocktay, which eventually became the cocktail. The specificity of the details, Peychaud's renown as a mixologist and the date provide circumstantial credence to this explanation, but there is no direct evidence to support it.
Another explanation has the word deriving from the French coquetel, a drink known in the Bordeaux region for several centuries. According to this account, the drink and its name were introduced to America by French officers during the American Revolution. Again, there is no evidence for this.
Yet another is that it is from cock-ale, a drink popular in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, but to the modern palate seems a bit disgusting. To a cask of new ale was added a sack containing an old rooster, mashed to a pulp, raisins, mace, and cloves, and the mixture was allowed to infuse for a week or so. From Kenelm Digby's The Closet of Sir K.D., written sometime before 1648:
To make Cock-Ale. Take eight Gallons of Ale; take a Cock and boil him well.
Or, the explanation could be a prosaic one, that it comes from the practice of inserting rooster feathers into a drink, much like we do today with paper umbrellas.
Finally, here is one that is certainly false, but it has a wonderful folkloric quality to it. According to the tale, long ago an Aztec noble, in an attempt to curry favor, sent the emperor a drink by the hand of his daughter, Xochitl. The emperor liked the drink so much that he married the daughter and named the concoction after her. The term was introduced to the United States by soldiers returning from the Mexican-American War (1846-47). A great story, but alas the evidence shows that the word cocktail was in use more than forty years before that war.
TTT mentioned R.F. Outcault, a famous 19th C. comic strip maker. Not only did his strip "Hogan's Alley" add "Hogan's goat" to our slang, his more famous strip, "The Yellow Kid" added...
yellow journalism
This term, meaning sensationalistic and often inaccurate journalism, was first used in 1898, when the comic strip "the Yellow Kid", featuring a boy wearing a long yellow nightshirt that bore messages on it, was used to incite anti-Spain feelings after the USS Maine blew up & sank at Havana. Often, the Yellow Kid's shirt was the only colored object appearing in the paper & the messages printed on it were easy to read. Since these messages became unreliable propaganda after the Maine sinking, & were linked to the yellow shirt, the term 'yellow journalism' took hold in NYC for that type of 'news' story, and the term has been with us ever since.
The Yellow Kid's own strip ended in 1898, but he continued to make "guest" appearances in other comix, including Outcault's "Buster Brown", and in political cartoons. Outcault(1863-1928) died a very wealthy man, as he began scoring big time royalties from Buster Brown merchandise. His descendants continue to scarf royalties from Buster Brown shoes to this day.
yellow journalism
This term, meaning sensationalistic and often inaccurate journalism, was first used in 1898, when the comic strip "the Yellow Kid", featuring a boy wearing a long yellow nightshirt that bore messages on it, was used to incite anti-Spain feelings after the USS Maine blew up & sank at Havana. Often, the Yellow Kid's shirt was the only colored object appearing in the paper & the messages printed on it were easy to read. Since these messages became unreliable propaganda after the Maine sinking, & were linked to the yellow shirt, the term 'yellow journalism' took hold in NYC for that type of 'news' story, and the term has been with us ever since.
The Yellow Kid's own strip ended in 1898, but he continued to make "guest" appearances in other comix, including Outcault's "Buster Brown", and in political cartoons. Outcault(1863-1928) died a very wealthy man, as he began scoring big time royalties from Buster Brown merchandise. His descendants continue to scarf royalties from Buster Brown shoes to this day.
SNAFU...acronym for "S ituation N ormal, A ll F ouled U p" was begun in US infantry camps in 1941 before the war broke out, reflecting the bungling & ineptitude of peacetime COs in these camps. When the USA entered the war in the Atlantic, the British readily added this term to their vocabulary. Both Americans & British occasionally (cough) substitute another term for "fouled". It became in such common use by soldier and officer alike that it became an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary.
This led to another acronym...
FUBAR..."F ouled U p B eyond A ll R epair." This came from US Marines during the Pacific island fighting in 1942-43. As the Army had an acronym, the Marines wanted their own.It was used quite often by our forces in 'Nam.
This led to another acronym...
FUBAR..."F ouled U p B eyond A ll R epair." This came from US Marines during the Pacific island fighting in 1942-43. As the Army had an acronym, the Marines wanted their own.It was used quite often by our forces in 'Nam.
Last edited by robycop3 on Wed Dec 13, 2006 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
BOBBY...First, a London, England policeman, then, all British uniformed police, has been used since 1844, after Sir Robert Peel(1788-1850), the founder of London's police force. At first, they were called "Bobby's Boys" in admiration for their efficient work, and by 1844, they were simply called "bobbies".