The real Mackay(1871)

[Sam Clements]

This may or not be an antedating, but I think it's an important addition to
the origins of the term.

>From ancestry.com, I found a poem in the Waukesha(WI) Plaindealer, February
7, 1871: page 1(I think), col. 3.  There are five stanzas.  Rather than
print the entire poem, suffice it to say that the final line in each stanza
was

     "For he's no the real Sandy Mackay."

The title of the poem was "THE REAL SANDY MACKAY*"

At the conclusion of the poem, the starred term was explained thusly:

      <<An expression used in some parts of Scotland, equivalent to saying,
"it's not the real thing.">>

This would appear to predate the RHDAS cite for the meaning of "the genuine
article; the real thing."  They have RL Stevenson's 1883 cite as first.

There is no indication of the author.

Jesse:  if you need the entire poem, I'll be glad to mail you a hard copy by
snailmail.  I haven't figured out how to cut and paste from ancestry.  I
know about the 1856 and 1880 cites,   but nothing so specific as this one.

Sam Clements