Two little-known NYC papers: slang troves?

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Thu Sep 29 03:30:01 UTC 2005


FWIW, "hotchacha" was a favorite exclamation of Jimmy Durante's.

-Wilson Gray

On 9/28/05, Mullins, Bill <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Two little-known NYC papers: slang troves?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > _Broadway Brevities_
> > http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/AHCS/cultureofcities/galler
> > y4/front.html
> >
> > and its possibly raunchier imitator _New Broadway Brevities_,
> > were notorious scandal sheets of the 1920s and '30s.
> >
> > I doubt if these have been scanned into any database, or are
> > even on microfilm, but it would be worth keeping an eye out for them.
>
> It looks like they would provide some real grist for the slang mill.
>
> From this gallery
> http://www.arts.mcgill.ca/programs/AHCS/cultureofcities/gallery4/index.h
> tml
>
> We can see the 28 Dec 1931 issue (the second one pictured with any
> significant text).
>
> "Hotchacha" jumps off the page (it appears to be an ongoing feature),
> and the OED only has 1932/1933 for "hotcha" (doesn't list "hotchacha").
>
> The 29 Aug 1932 has "John Q. Bankroll" buried in the text (2nd
> paragraph), but OED doesn't have anything on "John Q" until 1937 for
> "John Q. Public".
>
> The 26 Sep 1932 issue features ""Life of Fanny Hill" in Modern
> Slanguage".
>
> "Miners Hot Holes'," Brevities, 1932 October 10, p. 1 col 1.
> "Big business has copped itself a new job.  It is putting the joy house
> industry in step with progress." [OED has 1940 for "joy house"] ["love
> hut" is in the next paragraph]
>
> "Gals Yank Chumps," Brevities, 1932 Oct 17, p. 1 col 1.
> "The good-time Charlies are either a bunch of pimply kids with the
> week's twelve-dollar paycheck freshly cashed, or a bunch of eggs so old
> they're gone slightly sour, generally speaking."  [OED has 1957 for
> "Good Time Charlie", in the entry for "good time"]
>
> The 20 July 1933 issue has "Caponeville" for Chicago in a headline.
>


--
-Wilson Gray



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