Fire "Buff" (from NYC)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Mon, 16 May 2005 04:25:30 EDT, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>_http://www.barrypopik.com/article/830/fire-buff_
>(http://www.barrypopik.com/article/830/fire-buff)
>...
>I've had a little trouble finding early citations for "buff" (a New York
>City term, surprisingly),  but the later citations are interesting.

Here's an intriguing early citation that squares with the derivation of
"buff" from "buffalo" as given on Barry's site:

-----
Forest and Stream, Apr 26, 1883, p. 252, col. 1
NEW YORK FIRE DOGS.
Engine Company No. 30, in Sixty-seventh street, near Third avenue, has one
of the finest canine members in the department. Buff was presented to
Foreman Perley about three years ago. He was then a half-grown
Newfoundland dog, and he put himself at once on the best of terms with the
company. Among old firemen a half-time volunteer was known as a "buffalo,"
and the four-footed new comer was so styled by the men.
-----

As for "buff" = 'fire enthusiast', here are a few more early examples
(none antedating OED's 1903 cite, however):

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New York Times, Aug 13, 1905, p. 3
He had been warned of the movements of the On Leong Tongers by a "buff" or
"fire house crank" named Charley Smith and nicknamed "The Hog," who is in
the habit of worshipping at the adjoining fire station.
-----
New York Times, Dec 18, 1905, p. 6
THE BUFFS BANISHED BY EDICT OF CROKER
All Citizens Must Keep Out of Fire Lines and Fire Houses.
No longer will the "Buffs," the name given to those who are so fond of
watching the New York firemen at work that they never lose a chance to
witness a fire, and who by long practice have become acquainted with a
great many of the men in the department, be seen at fires. These people
have been familiar figures around the firehouses, often accompanying the
apparatus to fires. At other times they turn up at a fire, and get inside
the fire lines, by reason of a special badge.
Chief Croker is the man who has put an end to the "Buff" practice, the
death knell of which was sounded in the following order:
"The practice of allowing 'Buffs,' or citizens, around company quarters,
accompanying apparatus to fires, &c., will not be permitted in the
future."
-----
Puck, July 4, 1906, Vol. 59, Iss. 1531; p. 6
THE DILETTANTE FIREMAN
A "buff" is a cheerful person who hangs around a fire house for the sheer
pleasure of being near the fascinating machinery and hearing the glad
clang of the alarum bell. ... Buffing was too slow for young Dobbins.
-----


--Ben Zimmer