Dubious Etymologies: Dead Rabbits, Plug Uglies

[George Thompson]

The earliest I have for "Dead Rabbits" in my notes is
Juvenile Rioters. -- Two gangs of juvenile rowdies, varying in ages from 8 to 14 years, one boasting in the title of Dead Rabbits, and the other that of the Bowery Boys. . . .
New-York Daily Tribune, September 14, 1857, p. 7, col. 2

I don't have "Plug Ugly" at all.  Herbert Asbury (or someone) says they were a Baltimore gang.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
Date: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 6:47 pm
Subject: Dubious Etymologies: Dead Rabbits, Plug Uglies
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU


> The History Channel's 2002 show on "Gangs of New York" features author
> Peter Quinn commenting on the naming of NYC's infamous gang, the "Dead
> Rabbits," of ca1860.  I paraphrase closely:
>
>   "A professor found that the Irish words  / dEd r@ 'bid / meant
> "tough guy."  One day a newspaperman came down to the Five Points and
> asked, 'Who's that?' And somebody said, 'Oh, he's a  / dEd r@ 'bid /.'
>  And the gang became the 'Dead Rabbits.'"
>
>   Luc Sante told a similar tale, though without the Irish part: "Well,
> 'dead' meant 'real or genuine' and 'rabbit' meant 'tough guy.' A 'Dead
> Rabbit' was a 'real tough guy.'"
>
>   And the rival "Plug Uglies"?  According to Sante [I think],
> volunteer fire departments used to compete to be the first at a fire.
> The first on the scene would "put a barrel over the fireplug to keep
> their rivals from putting out the fire. One of the biggest, toughest
> gang members would sit on the barrel to keep them from getting at the
> fireplug. And that's where we got 'Plug-Ugly.'"
>
>   How anybody put the fire out in those circumstances is one of
> history's mysteries.Maybe they fought each other till one side ran
> away or the house burned down. (Not impossible.)
>
>   JL
>
>
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