[Ads-l] Earliest Use of "Cook the Books"

Mon Feb 4 18:28:57 UTC 2019

Good work, Ben and everyone. Here is an instance of the desired phrase
in 1850 from the British Newspaper Archive. The word cook is enclosed
in quotation marks.

Date: 21 January 1850
Newspaper: The Globe
Newspaper Location: London, England
Article: The Latest News: The Aylesbury Savings Bank
Quote Page 3, Column 2
Database: British Newspaper Archive

[Begin excerpt]
The mode which Stratton adopted to mystify the accounts and to "cook"
the books of the bank, to deceive the trustees and managers, as well
as Mr. James, the Secretary, was of a character to disarm suspicion,
and was only to be discovered the closest investigation and the
strictest scrutiny.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 3:11 AM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> "Cook up" is applied to "books" in this 1853 example:
>
> ----
> Liverpool Mercury, Sep. 30, 1853, p. 15, col. 4
> With reference to the assistance of weighers and porters being required to
> cook up the books, we bling the base assertion in their teeth; and beg to
> whisper in their ears taht surely those who dwell in glass houses should
> not be the first to cast stones, therefore the less they say about "cooking
> up" books, &c., the better.
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28013086/cook_up_books/
> ----
>
> This refers to a claim made in an earlier article in the same newspaper
> (with "accounts" instead of "books"):
>
> ----
> Liverpool Mercury, Sep. 23, 1853, p. 12, col. 4
> Were it not for the assistance rendered those men by the weighers and
> porters on the quays in instructing them, and the way in which their
> accounts have been "cooked" up, the business of those docks in which the
> thing is in operation would have been brought to a complete standstill.
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28013081/cook_up_accounts/
> ----
>
> The earliest examples I've found for "cook (the) books" without the "up"
> come from 1857:
>
> ----
> The Standard (London), Jan. 10, 1857, p. 4, col. 5
> As I am ignorant of the facts discovered against the assistant clerk, save
> as to his cooking certain books and his dealing with the guardians' cheques
> during the past nine months, i.e., subsequent to my last audit account to
> Lady-day, 1856, to which date alone have I seen the union accounts, I do
> not see that at present at least I am called upon for any observation on
> that part of the case.
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28013203/cook_the_books/
> ----
> The Morning Post (London), May 21, 1857, p. 2, col. 5
> A second letter from this person appears in last night's papers. It is
> intended as a reply to the charge of "cooking the books," preferred against
> James Sadleir by the Master of the Rolls... James Sadleir denies that he
> acted as his brother John wished, and maintains that he did not alter "one
> figure" in the accounts.
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28013171/cook_the_books/
> ----
>
> On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 1:19 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Here is the pertinent sense for the verb "cook" in the OED (to provide
> > background). The 1751 citation applies "cooked up" to accounts. None
> > of the citations for this sense included the word "book" or "books".
> >
> > cook, v.1
> > 3. c. To present in a surreptitiously altered form, for some purpose;
> > to manipulate, ‘doctor’, falsify, tamper with. colloq.
> >
> > 1636   Earl of Strafford Let. 25 July (1739) II. 16   The Proof was
> > once clear, however they have cook'd it since.
> >
> > 1751   T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle IV. cvi. 227   Some falsified
> > printed accounts, artfully cooked up, on purpose to mislead and
> > deceive.
> >
> > 1848   J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. i. ix. §2   These accounts, even
> > if cooked, still exercise some check.
> >
> > 1872   J. A. H. Murray in Complaynt Scotl. Introd. p. cxvii   The
> > editor was attacked by..Pinkerton, for not printing the text ‘as a
> > classic’, i.e. cooking the spelling, &c., as he himself would have
> > done.
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 12:01 AM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Not knowing how far back you've found it already, I don't know whether
> > these are helpful.
> > >
> > > Phrases.org.uk has an example of the word, "to cook," in the sense of
> > "present in a surreptitiously altered form," from 1636.
> > >
> > > https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cook-the-books.html
> > >
> > > In a quick search, I found "cook the books" in the 1860s and "cook the
> > accounts" in the 1840s.
> > >
> > > The earliest "cook the books" I saw is from the Saturday Review
> > (London), July 13, 1861, page 39 (HathiTrust).
> > >
> > https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112078712939;view=1up;seq=57
> > >
> > > "It is no more than fair for a Dissenting grocer to say that the parson
> > of the parish is not a safe savings bank manager, because he may be tempted
> > by his zeal for religion to cook the books of all the Wesleyan depositors
> > in the district."
> > >
> > > The expression was well-established enough in 1865 that it appeared in a
> > German-language linguistics book, Dr. Max Mueller's Bau-wau-Theorie und der
> > Ursprung der Sprache, Leipzig, Verlag von Bernhard Schlicke, 1865, page
> > 148. Hathitrust.
> > > https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hx5925;view=1up;seq=160
> > >
> > > ". . . to cook the books, d. i. die Buecher falsch fuehren . . . ."
> > >
> > >
> > > The earliest "cook the accounts" I found is from 1849.
> > > Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle (Portsmouth, England), June 16,
> > 1849, page 2. (Newspapers.com)
> > >
> > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28010089/hampshire_telegraph_and_naval_chronicle/
> > >
> > >
> > > "The traders and professional men won't pay the tax.  They juggle with
> > their consciences; cook their accounts; falsify their returns, and leave
> > the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the lurch."
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ------ Original Message ------
> > > From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> > > To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
> > > Sent: 2/3/2019 2:48:14 PM
> > > Subject: Earliest Use of "Cook the Books"
> > >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > > Subject: Earliest Use of "Cook the Books"
> > >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > I am trying to push back the use of the phrase "cook the books" (to
> > falsify=
> > > accounting records in order to conceal actual financial activities or
> > cond=
> > > ition of a business) as far as I can. Any suggestions of early citations
> > w=
> > > ould be welcome.
> > >
> >
>
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