Comments on: Monthly Gleanings: September 2009 http://blog.oup.com/2009/09/monthly-gleanings-4/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:48:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Mary http://blog.oup.com/2009/09/monthly-gleanings-4/comment-page-1/#comment-154134 Mary Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:04:37 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=5704#comment-154134 Did Shakespeare's "jacks that nimble leap" come before or after the nursery rhyme, "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick?" Did Shakespeare’s “jacks that nimble leap” come before or after the nursery rhyme, “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick?”

]]> By: Stephen Goranson http://blog.oup.com/2009/09/monthly-gleanings-4/comment-page-1/#comment-153742 Stephen Goranson Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:52:05 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=5704#comment-153742 The earliest uses of "Sam Hill" I've seen (1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, 1835, 1838) do not inspire confidence that an historical individual is intended. In a long, comic 1830 newspaper article, transcribed at barrypopik.com, a Frenchman seeks a real person behind such phrases as that the zigzagging "ship steer like Sam Hill." In the 1831 case Yankee Sam Hill outwits a Dutchman. Headline: From the New York Constellation Now and Then; Article Paper: Gloucester Telegraph; Date: 07-16-1831; Volume: V; Issue: 29; Page: [1]; Location: Gloucester, Massachusetts The 1832-38 cases all have "lie like Sam Hill." The 1835 newspaper says he's from RI but was intimate with Major Longbow (Munchausen?), undercutting the believability of the claim. Headline: Sam Hill; Article Type: News/Opinion Paper: New Bedford Gazette, published as New-Bedford Gazette And Courier; Date: 01-19-1835; Volume: I; Issue: 29; Page: [1]; Location: New Bedford, Massachusetts In 1909 J.R. Ware (Passing English, p.214) suggested Sam Hill was a version of "some hell." Though the suggestion was rejected, without explanation, by G. M. Tucker (American English 1921 p.330, cf. Am Speech 1940 p. 106), perhaps we can reconsider the possibility of "some hell"? The earliest uses of “Sam Hill” I’ve seen (1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, 1835, 1838) do not inspire confidence that an historical individual is intended. In a long, comic 1830 newspaper article, transcribed at barrypopik.com, a Frenchman seeks a real person behind such phrases as that the zigzagging “ship steer like Sam Hill.”
In the 1831 case Yankee Sam Hill outwits a Dutchman. Headline: From the New York Constellation Now and Then; Article
Paper: Gloucester Telegraph; Date: 07-16-1831; Volume: V; Issue: 29; Page: [1];
Location: Gloucester, Massachusetts

The 1832-38 cases all have “lie like Sam Hill.”
The 1835 newspaper says he’s from RI but was intimate with Major Longbow (Munchausen?), undercutting the believability of the claim. Headline: Sam Hill; Article Type: News/Opinion
Paper: New Bedford Gazette, published as New-Bedford Gazette And Courier; Date:
01-19-1835; Volume: I; Issue: 29; Page: [1]; Location: New Bedford,
Massachusetts

In 1909 J.R. Ware (Passing English, p.214) suggested Sam Hill was a version of “some hell.” Though the suggestion was rejected, without explanation, by G. M. Tucker (American English 1921 p.330, cf. Am Speech 1940 p. 106), perhaps we can reconsider the possibility of “some hell”?

]]> By: John Cowan http://blog.oup.com/2009/09/monthly-gleanings-4/comment-page-1/#comment-153732 John Cowan Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:26:11 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=5704#comment-153732 I see nothing wrong with the idea that <i>hill</i> is a taboo deformation of <i>hell</i> (cf. <i>nerts</i> for <i>nuts</i>), and that adding a random first name provides plausible deniability against people who would punish you even for a taboo form (cf. <i>Jesus, Mary, and Joseph</i>, which is deniable as "I'm not swearing, just naming the Holy Family"). I see nothing wrong with the idea that hill is a taboo deformation of hell (cf. nerts for nuts), and that adding a random first name provides plausible deniability against people who would punish you even for a taboo form (cf. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, which is deniable as “I’m not swearing, just naming the Holy Family”).

]]> By: Monthly Gleanings: September 2009 | phrases.com http://blog.oup.com/2009/09/monthly-gleanings-4/comment-page-1/#comment-153724 Monthly Gleanings: September 2009 | phrases.com Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:03:13 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=5704#comment-153724 [...] More: Monthly Gleanings: September 2009 [...] [...] More: Monthly Gleanings: September 2009 [...]

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