Mercy Murder; Author! Author!; Bupkis/Bubkis; Dishpan hands

[Barry A. Popik]

    Some stuff found while looking for other things.

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MERCY MURDER

     "Euthanasia" sounds too Greek to the Kevorkian crowd, I guess.  OED has
"mercy murder" (1930) and "mercy killing" and "mercy killer" (both 1935).
     Perhaps the concept began with these events, described in the New York
Telegram, 4 November 1927, pg. 6, col. 3:

_Peril in "Mercy Murders."_
ENGLAND is enjoying her second "mercy murder" within two weeks.
     The first case was that of a grief-stricken father, who put his
incurable daughter out of her misery because he could not bear to see her
suffer.
     The latest case is that of a daughter who performed the same office for
a mother stricken with malignant cancer of the liver.

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AUTHOR!  AUTHOR!

     AUTHOR!  AUTHOR! was a movie written by playwright Israel Horowitz that
starred Al Pacino.  This classic theater phrase isn't recorded in any of my
books.  Does it come from a collaboration?
    This is from CAN YOU TOP THIS? (1945), pg. 225:

JOE LAURIE, JR. (co-author of book--ed.):  One of the greatest wits of all
times was the late Wilson Mizner.  He was a great playwright, too.  One of
his best was _The Deep Purple_, which he wrote in collaboration with Paul
Armstrong.  It opened in London and was a tremendous hit.  After the opening
performance, the audience stood up en masse and shouted "Author!  Author!"
Mizner was forced to leave the wings and come out on the stage.  He took a
bow, then said, "This stage isn't big enough to hold all the authors of this
play!"

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BUBKIS/BUPKIS; _ANECDOTA AMERICANA_; DISHPAN HANDS

BUBKIS/BUPKIS:    Bennett Cerf's AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN HUMOR (1954)
includes A. J. Liebling's THE TELEPHONE BOOTH INDIAN (1941) story, with
_bubkis_ on page 198.    The RHHDAS has this Liebling citation under _bupkis_
(1942).  Is it _bubkis_ or _bupkis_, 1941 or 1942?...ANGLISH/YINGLISH has
"BUHPkis n. Literally, beans" on pg. 19.  DREK! has "Bobkes
(BUB-kis)--literally, goat turds" on pg. 23.  Bubkis, bupkis, beans, goat
turds--let's call the whole thing off!

ANECDOTA AMERICANA--THE CLASSIC BOOK OF DIRTY JOKES: ANECDOTA AMERICANA, with
a foreword by Al Goldstein ("porky prince of porn"), was published in 1981.
It states that the book was originally published in 1928.  Goldstein's
foreword even begins, "The year was 1928..."  THE F-WORD cites "J. M. Hall,"
ANECDOTA (1934).  Is 1934 correct?  Is Goldstein completely wrong?...Pg. 120
"F.O.W. cars" (fuck or walk) didn't make the new THE F-WORD.

DISHPAN HANDS--People are dying for this antedate, I know.  The OED has 1944
and "dish-pan hands--an inflamed or sore condition of the hands caused by
washing-up or by the use of cleaning materials in housework."  The Brooklyn
Daily Eagle, 26 January 1927, pg. 6, has a LUX advertisment with, "No more
Dishpan Hands now."
     An interesting story is in the New York World-Telegram, 4 February 1943,
pg. 1, cols. 7-8:

_"Dishpan Hands" Slur_
_Led to Killing of Boy_
     ANNAPOLIS, Md., Feb. 4.--Seventeen-year-old Allen Willey was buried
today in St. Mary's Cemetery four days after he was shot to death by a woman
he once chided for having "dishpan hands."
(She probably also had "B.O."--ed.)