Whymper's Alaska/California slang (1868)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE
IN THE TERRITORY OF ALASKA
by Frederick Whymper
New York: Harper Brothers
1869

   OED has about 20 cites from this book and gives it as 1868.
   I just spent a frustrating half hour looking through the RHHDAS and the
ADS-L archives for "eat crow"--maybe I looked in the wrong places.  Anyway,
I'll present the items (all interesting, but not all antedates) and you can
look 'em up.

Pg. 42:  They begged for a "potlatch" or gift, and, glad to get rid of them,
I acceded to their request for a little flour, tobacco, etc.
(I think this would be OED's second "potlatch"--ed.)

Pg. 42:  *"King George man," in the Chinook jargoon (a mixture of Emglish,
French, and Indian, used as a means of converse among most of the white men
and natives of the coast), simply menas an Englishman, and was originated by
the fact that our first acquaintance with them was made in the Georgian era.
"Boston man," or "Boston" simply, stands for an American; the first vessels
bearing the stars and stripes hailed from that port.
(Would be the third "Boston" cite in DARE--ed.)

Pg. 50:  He afterward told us, pointing back to the place with a shudder,
"_Hyu si-wash hyack clattawa keekwully ya-wa_!"--"Many savages (Indians) had
quickly gone to the bottom there," or had found a watery grave.

Pg. 54:  ...were at work "blazing," _i. e._, marking the trees with an axe to
show where the trail should go.

Pg. 56:  The ideal Red-skin...
Pg. 57:  ...the "pale-faces."

Pg. 102:  ...ranging from Cognac to raw _vodka_, of a class which can only be
described by a Californian term as "chain lightning"...
(RHHDAS has "chain lightning" from 1837.  California term?--ed.)

Pg. 116:  Perhaps quite as lucid an explanation as you could get from an
agricultural laborer or a "city Arab" at home.
(DARE's earliest "Arab" is 1903?--ed.)

Pg. 136:  When we were tired of games--one of them a Russian version of "hunt
the slipper"...

Pg. 189:  My first acquaintance with the Yukon, in common with several of my
companions, was made sliding down the bank at a rate of "2.40" (to use an
Americanism),* comfortably seated on my snow-shoes.
*Two minutes forty seconds is the time taken by a high-class trotting-horse
to run a mile.

Pg. 198:  Our banquet of baked ptarmigan and fried ham, pancakes (known,
reader, by the poetical name of "flap-jacks") molasses (known by us as
"long-tailed sugar"), and coffee, pleased our Russian friends well, but our
tea was not to their standard.

Pg. 229:  They "ken eat crow, tho' they don't hanker arter it."
(The original wording of OED's first "eat crow" cite?--ed.)

Pg. 300:  Again Fr'isco (as her citizens lovingly call her)...
(Peter Tamony would disagree with that--ed.)

Pg. 300:  ...the advertising "medium" walking with his boards _a la
sandwich_...

Pg. 301:  There was certainly the "Emperor Norton," a kind of half-witted
fellow, clothed in regimentals, who issued pompous proclamations, and
subsisted by levying black-mail on those who were amused by his fooleries, or
on the "free lunches" of the bar-rooms.

Pg. 304:  Although San Francisco is full of bar-rooms, "saloons," and Dutch
_lager bier_ cellars (the German family are all called Dutchman in San
Francisco, and the same title is given usually to Norwegians, Swedes, and
Danes--I have even known a Switzer called a Dutchman!), there is little
drunkenness to be observed.

Pg. 308:  ...was, in Californian phraselogy, a "high-toned and elegant"
affair.  The "carte" included sharks' fins, birds'-nest soup, reindeer
sinews, geranium and violet cakes, samshoo and rose wine, but was not
deficient in the good things of our _cuisine_, accompanied by an unlimited
supply of champagne.
(No "chop suey" in this 1868 Californian Chinese menu--ed.)

Pg. 309:  SOCIETY in the "Bay City," though still a little "mixed," to use a
Californian phrase, is, taking it altogether, a much heartier, jollier,
sincerer thing than elsewhere.  Californians will have none of the airs of
the high and mighty; they call it "putting on frills," they say that sort of
thing is "played out," and recommend such to "vamose the ranch," or get from
their sight.  Ask them how they are, and the answer is pat, "Oh, gay and
festive," with probably the affirmative positive, "you bet," or may be "you
bet your boots."  If a preacher, actor, or writer indulges in an exaggerated
manner, they say "he piles on the agony" too much, has a "spread-eagle" or
"high-falutin" style about him.  The derivation of the last term is involved
in mystery.  Many of the common expressions are taken from mining operations
and experiences.  "It panned out well," means that "it gave good returns."
"Show," or "color," from the indications of gold in gravel or sand, are words
used in various shapes.  "I have not a show," means I have no chance.  "We
have not seen the 'color' of his money," means he has not paid up a farthing.
 "Prospect"--to search for gold--is used in many ways; ask if a speculation
promises well, they may answer, "It prospects well, (Pg. 310--ed.) if we can
only make the riffle," the last an allusion to successfully getting over a
"rapid" or "riffle" on a river.  Or,if the thing has disappointed, it may be,
"We got down to the 'bed rock," and found it a 'bilk'"--Californian for a
humbug.
   If one looks anxious, they say, "There's a heap of trouble on the old
man's mind;" and if one is got up elaborately in a "biled shirt" (_i. e._,
white shirt), a "stove-pipe" (or as we say, "chimney-pot") hat, and a suit of
new broadcloth, one is apt to be asked, "You've rather spread yourself,
haven't you?"  It is common for men to shave a good deal, and the city is
full of barbers' shops, where you can get yourself shaved and your boots
blacked at one and the same time.  These establishments are often luxuriously
fitted up, and beat any thing of the kind to be seen in the "Eastern" States.
 Beards are termed "chin-whiskers," and our "whiskers" are distinguished as
side-whiskers."  The terms for most things are on a more magnificent scale
than with us.  A bar-room is invariably a "saloon," an eating-house, a
"restaurant" (pronounced in an ANglicized manner), and a shop is a "store."
A good substantial repast is known as a "square" meal all over this coast,
and the term is applied to many other things.  A "square" drink is a "deep,
deep draught," and a good "square fight" is an encounter or "muss" where the
opponents were in earnest.  Some of these terms are common to the "Western"
States and outlying "territories," but can not be regarded as full-blooded
Americanisms.  They attract just as much notice from "Eastern" men travelling
in California as they do from Europeans.
   Listen to a quarrel in the streets: one calls the other a "regular dead
beat!" at which he, in return, threatens to "put a head on him!" whereupon
the first sneeringly retorts, "up a flume," the equivalent of a vulgar
cockney's (Pg. 311--ed.) "over the left."  If one or the other "weakens," or
shows signs of "caving" in and leaving, he is said to "get up and dust."  It
is then the business of his opponent to "corral" him in a corner--a term
taken from the Spanish for catching and shutting up cattle in an enclosure.
This last phrase is used in a variety of ways.  A police officer "corrals" an
offender, a greedy man at table "corrals" all the delicacies, and a broker
"corrals" all the stock of a company, and controls the market, and so on.

(David Shulman told me the guy's name and the program name, and I typed what
he told me...A 1741 "shiksa" and "yurt" probably tomorrow--ed.)