Comments on: Debate: What is the origin of “buckaroo”? Richard Bailey writes http://blog.oup.com/2012/02/debate-origin-word-buckaroo-bailey/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Mon, 20 May 2013 14:53:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: Dictionary Of Regional American English — A Fun Distraction | Gadaboutblogalot's Blog http://blog.oup.com/2012/02/debate-origin-word-buckaroo-bailey/#comment-251803 Dictionary Of Regional American English — A Fun Distraction | Gadaboutblogalot's Blog Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:09:00 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=21740#comment-251803 [...] Debate: What is the origin of “buckaroo”? Richard Bailey writes (oup.com) [...] [...] Debate: What is the origin of “buckaroo”? Richard Bailey writes (oup.com) [...]

]]> By: Alice http://blog.oup.com/2012/02/debate-origin-word-buckaroo-bailey/#comment-251659 Alice Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:16:45 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=21740#comment-251659 I wanted to clarify something for our readers as this debate goes on. The quiz "Can you speak American?" was based on Richard Bailey's book, Speaking American, so all questions and answers come from the text (and therefore his views). Richard Bailey died in April 2011 so we can't ask him for a more in-depth explanation on his views of "buckra," "vaquero," and "buckaroo." We can only offer the excerpt above. Please follow the trackback above for commentary on "buckaroo" from OED editor Dr. Katrin Thier, who is eager for comments and examples from our etymology enthusiasts. - Blog Editor Alice I wanted to clarify something for our readers as this debate goes on. The quiz “Can you speak American?” was based on Richard Bailey’s book, Speaking American, so all questions and answers come from the text (and therefore his views).

Richard Bailey died in April 2011 so we can’t ask him for a more in-depth explanation on his views of “buckra,” “vaquero,” and “buckaroo.” We can only offer the excerpt above.

Please follow the trackback above for commentary on “buckaroo” from OED editor Dr. Katrin Thier, who is eager for comments and examples from our etymology enthusiasts.

- Blog Editor Alice

]]> By: OUPblog » Blog Archive » Debate: What is the origin of “buckaroo”? OED Editor responds http://blog.oup.com/2012/02/debate-origin-word-buckaroo-bailey/#comment-251657 OUPblog » Blog Archive » Debate: What is the origin of “buckaroo”? OED Editor responds Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:56:48 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=21740#comment-251657 [...] with our quiz Can you speak American? last week. Richard Bailey, author of Speaking American, argues that it comes from the West African language Efik. Here OED editor Dr. Katrin Thier argues that the origin isn’t quite so [...] [...] with our quiz Can you speak American? last week. Richard Bailey, author of Speaking American, argues that it comes from the West African language Efik. Here OED editor Dr. Katrin Thier argues that the origin isn’t quite so [...]

]]> By: Daniel Buck http://blog.oup.com/2012/02/debate-origin-word-buckaroo-bailey/#comment-251652 Daniel Buck Fri, 24 Feb 2012 13:28:17 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=21740#comment-251652 Your previous post on the subject of buckaroo/buckeroo, which failed to even list "vaquero" as a possible answer, was nonsensical. The above excerpt from Richard Baily likewise avoids any discussion of "vaquero," except, inexplicably, to undermine his own argument by inserting it in the South Carolina Sea Islands as a source for "buckaroo." Lighter's HDAS, vol. I, has examples of Spanish California use of variants on buckeroo going back to the 1820s. I seriously doubt that there were many Efik-speaking cow-punchers in California in those days. Here's a great example, from the 29 March 1901 Ukiah (Mendicino County, Calif.) Republican: "Two men with blankets on their back passed through town on Monday. . . . . The people of our town are not what one would call excitable or curious, but at certain times, as a matter of course, we show signs of both, for instance, when a 'buckeroo' rides into town, his horse flecked with foam, with a broad brimmed hat, tasseled chaps and jingling spurs and bridle reins . . . ." I do believe the writer is using a word more likely to have come into California English from the Spanish "vaquero" than from the Barbdian "bukra." Dan Your previous post on the subject of buckaroo/buckeroo, which failed to even list “vaquero” as a possible answer, was nonsensical. The above excerpt from Richard Baily likewise avoids any discussion of “vaquero,” except, inexplicably, to undermine his own argument by inserting it in the South Carolina Sea Islands as a source for “buckaroo.”

Lighter’s HDAS, vol. I, has examples of Spanish California use of variants on buckeroo going back to the 1820s. I seriously doubt that there were many Efik-speaking cow-punchers in California in those days.

Here’s a great example, from the 29 March 1901 Ukiah (Mendicino County, Calif.) Republican: “Two men with blankets on their back passed through town on Monday. . . . . The people of our town are not what one would call excitable or curious, but at certain times, as a matter of course, we show signs of both, for instance, when a ‘buckeroo’ rides into town, his horse flecked with foam, with a broad brimmed hat, tasseled chaps and jingling spurs and bridle reins . . . .”

I do believe the writer is using a word more likely to have come into California English from the Spanish “vaquero” than from the Barbdian “bukra.”

Dan

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