jinx

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 08/07/2002 2:45:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
gcohen at UMR.EDU quotes Barry Popik:

> >    "Jinx" was used most often in baseball.  I clearly showed that the term
>  >became popular in 1911, and sports cartoonists (COE didn't use most of
this)
>  >were changing from "jinks" to "jinx."  I also found a citation for the
>  >fictitious name "Calamatiy W. Jinx," in the humor magazine PUCK in the
> 1880s.

This is a very long shot:  In the early 1900's there was a New York sports
writer named Masterson, known to history as "Bat Masterson".  Before becoming
a sportswriter he had been a notorious Wild West gunfighter (how's that for a
career change?)  It is quite possible he knew Calamity Jane, and if he never
met her he certainly heard about her from his friends such as Wyatt Earp.
Could he have somehow been responsible for "Calamity Jane" --> "Calamity
Jinx" --> "Jinx"?

     - Jim Landau