"V" Sign & LOTS more

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Mon Aug 6 10:43:11 UTC 2001


V-SIGN (continued)
   The "V" sign (pre-Churchill, pre-V-8 juice, pre-"peace" sign) is given by a woman on the cover of THIS WEEK magazine, NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, 31 March 1940.  The context is a little puzzling.  This is the second pre-Churchill "V" sign that I've spotted and have recorded here.

SWISH
   Of interest in "Swish" research (basketball, gay slang) is the Lavoris "SWISH!" ad in THIS WEEK, NYHT, 12 November 1939, pg. 31, col. 3.  There were many different Lavoris "SWISH!" ads for this year.

ZOMBIES
   From Lucius Beebe in the NYHT, 13 January 1940, pg. 6, col. 2:  "An institution that seems to have arrived to stay is the Beachcomber over the Winter Garden...It's just like the Hollywood version and specializes in the potent drinks known as Zombies, Lotus Chicken Soup, Pressed Duck and Hot Coffee Grog."

GAG
   From Lucius Beebe in the NYHT, 2 March 1940, pg. 14, col. 2: "Newspaper men's slang in local pothouses has evolved a drink known as a 'gag.'  It is simply an old-fashioned cocktail with no seltzer of miscellaneous fruit, just a slug of whiskey, a little sugar and lemon peel."

TEMPERANCE DRINK
   From Lucius Beebe in the NYTH, 17 February 1940, pg. 14, col. 2: "Dorothy Kilgallen credits Gertrude Lawrence with waltzing up an arrangement of cream and ginger ale, half and half, as a temperance drink.  Miss Lawrence must have been visiting Professor Berdan, of Yale, who always served cream and ginger ale to his undergraduate callers on Sunday.  It was concocted and served up by his Negro butler, Cato, and mighty stylish, too."
(Beebe went to Yale and got kicked out for his drinking--ed.)

EGG DROP SOUP
   From the NYHT, 25 January 1940, pg. 14, col. 6: "There is egg drop soup and noodle soup thick with shredded chicken."

EIGHT PRECIOUS THINGS
   From the NYHT, 13 May 1939, pg. 16, col. 7: "She will tell you what there is--red Pekin cabbage, bambbo shoots, chow mein, pigeon livers and 'eight precious things,' China's famous pudding."

LITTLE BURROS
   A "Little Burros" recipe is in "Halloween Goes New Mexican," THIS WEEK, NYHT, 23 October 1938, pg. 20, col. 1.  This is the second recorded cite for this item.  No "chimichanga."

HARDWARE VEGETABLES
   From the NYHT, 3 January 1940, pg. 20, col. 6: "Cold weather registers on the public appetite, bringing increased demand for the 'hardware' vegetables--potatoes, onions, turnips and cabbage."
(All other vegetables would be your "software"--ed.)

SLICKER'N A CHICKEN PIE AT A CAKE WALK
   From the NYHT, 9 February 1940, pg. 10, col. 6: "If folks knew its goodness, the store would be cleaned out of stock 'slicer'n a chicken pie at a cake walk.'"

FIRST CATCH YOUR RABBIT
   From the NYHT, 11 March 1940, pg. 18, col. 6: "'First catch your rabbit' as the old recipe books advise."

WEEL AND 'AM--NYHT, 8 March 1940, pg. 14, col. 5. "A 'weel and 'am' pie, one we think as good as that preferred dish of the immortal Samuel Weller, heads this week's suggestions for dollar dinner menus."
'AM AND WEEL--NYHT, 2 April 1940, pg. 24, col. 6 head.

YALLER TATER
   Sweet potato.  From the NYHT, 29 September 1939, pg. 14, col. 7: "Already new crop 'yaller taters' are one of the reasonable vegetables in the market this fall."

HEAT AND EAT
   From the NYHT, 10 April 1939, pg. 10, col. 7: "'Heat and eat' foods, lifesavers of the business woman, mark a general trend in the canning industry."

CHOCOLATE CHIPS
   THIS WEEK, NYHT, 18 February 1940, pg. 18, has recipes for Chocolate Chip Cake in Col. 1, Chocolate Chip Cookies in Col. 2, Chocolate Raisin Turnovers in Col. 3, and Chocolate Chip Custard, Chocolate Chip High Pie, and Lemon Chocolate Chip Ice Cream in Col. 4.
   This antedates OED for "chocolate chip cookies"--but I've posted a 1938 cite from BETTER HOMES & GARDENS.

HIGH PIES
   Described in the NYHT, 29 December 1939, pg. 26, col. 5.  No "Mile High Pie," however.

MISSISSIPPI PIE--NYHT, 20 May 1939, pg. 16, col. 7.  "Mississippi Pie  Cook 1 cup cane syrup, 1/2 cup sugar and 3 tablespoons butter while 3 eggs are being beaten.  Beat eggs slowly into the syrup.  Add 1 cup pecan meats.  Pour into baked pastry shell and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) for about twenty minutes.  It may be served with whipped cream."
MISSISSIPPI PECAN PIE--NYHT, 16 March 1940, pg. 16, col. 2.
DEEP SOUTH PECAN PIE--NYHT, 15 March 1940, pg. 18, col. 5.

MIXED GRILL
   OED?  This "mixed grill" (costing all of 60 cents) is from a restaurant ad in the NYHT, 14 March 1940, pg. 15, col. 2: "The succulence of a plump loin lamb chop...the spiciness of a tasty link sausage...the delicate savor crisp bacon...the wholesome tang of a grilled tomato, bulging with flavor...put them all together and there's a MIXED GRILL that Childs is proud to call its own and set before you."

TURKEYFURTER
   From the headline in the NYHT, 20 November 1939, pg. 18, cols. 7-8: "Introducing the Turkeyfurter, Hot Dog's American Cousin."

SOUP BAR--NYHT, 16 December 1939, pg. 10, col. 2.
JUICE BAR--NYHT, 16 January 1940, pg. 22, col. 7.
VITAMIN DRINK BAR--NYHT, 7 October 1939, pg. 18, col. 7.

JUST SANDWICHES--BUT _UMM_!--THIS WEEK magazine, NYHT, 1 October 1939, pg.18 title.
M-M-M! HOT BREAD--NYHT, 21 February 1940, pg. 22, col. 8.
"M-M-M! WHY HAVEN'T I HAD THIS SOUP BEFORE?"--NYHT, 31 March 1940, section VII, pg. 3, col. 2 (Campbell's Mushroom Soup ad).

EAR COPS
   From Lucius Beebe in the NYHT, 6 January 1940, pg. 6, col. 1: "There is a vogue among small fry this winter of old-fashioned ear muffs of the variety used to be known as 'ear cops' to our part of New (Col. 2--ed.) England."

JOE DOAX
   Lucius Beebe again uses this spelling in the NYHT, 6 April 1940, pg. 14, col. 2: "A profile in 'The New Yorker' or mention in a Cole Porter lyric is all very well, but the modern equivalent of having a cigar named for one is to be so well known that it isn't necessary to say 'Joe Doax the painter' or 'Joe Doax the actor' or 'Joe Doax, that stinker.'"

HORIZONTAL POWDERS
   From Lucius Beebe in the NYHT, 30 December 1939, pg. 7, col. 1: "Mary Anita Loos refers to Mickey Finns as 'horizontal powders.'"

YOU-ALL
   "The You-All Situation" editorial in the NYHT, 23 January 1939, pg. 10, col. 3 begins:  "Again the SOuth is swept by discussions of the eternally puzzling (to Northerners) problem of the 'singular you-all.'  The present rash of discussion started when announcement was made that a Miss Myrick, of Macon, Ga., had been hired by Hollywood to keep an ear cocked on the nuances of the Southern dialect in the forthcoming production of "Gone With the Wind."  Miss Myrick announced that one of her acts would be to cut out the use of 'you-all' in the singular."

WITCHHUNTING
   "Witch-hunting in Modern Salem" is the "On the Record, by Dorothy Thompson" opinion in the NYHT, 30 October 1939, pg. 13, cols. 7-8.  The story is about the American Communist Party.  OED has one slightly older cite.

GANGSTER NATIONS
   The title of letters in the NYHT, 10 February 1940, pg. 10, col. 4.  No "rogue" states?

STUFF AND GUFF
   These names are as fanciful as the names for the lions (Patience and Fortitude) of the NYPL.  An editorial on "Stuff and Guff," the two bronze bellringers of the old NY Herald Building in Herald Square, is in the NYHT, 28 February 1940, pg. 20, col. 3.

MOZART BALLS
   He had 'em.  Does OED?  From the NYHT, 2 March 1940, pg. 14, col. 6: "First, notice the Mozart balls.  In Salzburg these are known as the motzart kugeln, most famous sweet of the old city.  Cut through a piece and sample the double center, the heart of fandant, blended with chocolate and almond paste; chocolate fondant over this and the outside covered with a dark bitter-sweet chocolate shell. (...) RULER'S CHOICE--Zauner balls are in the collection, these the favorite confection of the late Emperor Franz Joseph.  The center is of a chocolate fondant blended with ground nuts--filberts, almonds and walnuts, with a chocolate covering that is bitter sweet."

EGG & WINE QUIP
   From Lucius Beebe in the NYHT, 10 February 1940, pg. 14, col. 1:
   Credit Helen Menken with the fastic about the actor who was convalescing in a local penthouse.  A tonic toddy of egg and sherry was commanded by the attending doctor, but when the nurse attempted to administer the potion the patient gave a dubious sniff and emitted a loud raspberry sound of contempt.  "What's the matter?" demanded the girl in white.  "We thought you'd like this one." "I would," cracked the ham, "if the egg was as new as the wine and the wine were as old as the egg!"



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