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<i>Boston Evening-Post</i>, 1769 Nov. 13, p. 3, col. 2.
[EAN]<br><br>
A description of the carriage and effigies transported through the
streets of Boston on Pope Day (Nov. 5) in 1769 is mostly devoted to how
John Mein, a despised Loyalist newspaper publisher, was depicted (not
favorably in the carriage, needless to say). At the end of the
article is the following:<br><br>
Effigies,<font size=3>---M--n, his Servant, &c.---A bunch of
Tom-Cods." [<i>The Pope, Devil, &c. as usual</i>]<br><br>
[Three hyphens for the em-dash; the two hyphens in M--n are in the
original. The quotation mark seems intended to end the article,
which has one lonely quotation mark at its beginning. I think this
is intended to indicate that the article was taken from another newspaper
(more below). Thus the text in square brackets seems presented as
added by the <i>BEP</i>.]<br><br>
OED2 -- "tom-cod" = "Name for several small fishes. In
U.S.: a. The frost-fish (FROST n. 7c); also, loosely, one of
various small fishes confused with this." [And b.--d., three
other, presumably later, fishes.] Earliest citation "1795 J.
SULLIVAN <i>Hist. Maine</i>."<br><br>
1) Thus 1769 antedates OED2 1795-, and introduces some kind
of extended or figurative sense.<br><br>
2) Could the figurative sense of "tom-cod" here be
"small fry", viz. "fry, n.1", sense 4.b,
"Young or insignificant persons (collectively or in a body); a
‘swarm’ or crowd of such persons"? (This dates from
a1577.) The fishy connection to "tom-cod" appears in
"fry" sense 3, "Young fishes just produced from the
spawn." [In passing, shouldn't that be "young
*fish*"? One spawn, one species.]<br><br>
3) The description of the Pope Day carriage appears slightly
earlier, in the Boston Chronicle of 1769 Nov. 9, p. 1, col. 2.
There the text I have quoted is without both the closing quotation mark
and the bracketed text. But the inclusion in the <i>BEP</i> of the
usual suspects -- Pope, Devil, &c. -- adds to the context ... in
some, mysterious, way.<br><br>
4) It is not clear to me whether the tom-cods are Mein and
his servant, who are small-fry compared to the Pope, Devil, etc. (those
added by the BEP); or the BEP is explaining "tom-cods" as
*meaning* the Pope, Devil, etc. (unlikely?).<br><br>
For Nov. 13 the colophon for the <i>Chronicle</i> says it was (still)
printed by Mein and Fleeming. (Mein had fled Boston in October,
after an angry mob "ransacked the Chronicle and Mein's office"
-- Wikipedia.) The <i>Chronicle</i> was a vehemently Tory/Loyalist
paper (yet it still published the unflattering depiction of Mein --
perhaps to fortify its readers?); the BEP claimed to be neutral. If
that affects who the tom-cods were supposed to be, I can't figure out
how.<br><br>
But in any case, surely the meaning of "tom-cod" is extended
from fish.<br><br>
5) Under "small, a. and n.2", the OED has a much-later
first instance for "small-fry": "1874 ‘MARK TWAIN’
in Altantic Monthly Nov. 592/2 Dey wa'n't no *small-fry officers, mine
you; dey was de biggest dey is." But it gives no definition
here. And I'm puzzled why "small-fry" appears in two
places, with no explanation or cross-reference.<br><br>
Joel</font></body>
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