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

[Peter Reitan]

Fuehren also means "to manage" or "to maintain," which is consistent 
with the English meaning.  And in the context of the German reference 
which I did not share, it is clearly discussing the different meanings 
of the English word, "to cook," and not discussing a separate German 
idiom or even a German-language equivalent of the idiom.

------ Original Message ------
From: "Andy Bach" <afbach at gmail.com>
To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
Sent: 2/4/2019 10:39:48 AM
Subject: Re: Earliest Use of "Cook the Books"

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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Andy Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Earliest Use of "Cook the Books"
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>
>>  ". . . to cook the books, d. i. die Buecher falsch fuehren . . . ."
>
>Interesting, perhaps, that Google translate lists "to lead" as the first
>def of "fuehren"
>https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=auto&tl=en&text=fuehren
>
>so "to mislead the books". None of the synonyms offered are "to cook" nor
>have the sort of "get your fingers involved in the making of" that cooking
>implies (to me). So, a different idiom in German?  There is "to have a
>record of"
>
>On Sun, Feb 3, 2019 at 11:01 PM 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.
>>
>>  Fred Shapiro
>>
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>
>
>--
>
>a
>
>Andy Bach,
>afbach at gmail.com
>608 658-1890 cell
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