Cowboy lingo

[James A. Landau]

In a message dated 12/6/03 12:04:14 AM Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU writes:

> There are a lot of terms Curly's poem which are idiosyncratic to cowboys at
>  least to my knowledge.
>
>  A few:
>  learned to tighten his reins
>  center-fire saddle

There is also a "rim-fire saddle".

"Spanish rig means that the rigging rings that caught the girth or cinch that
held the saddle on were located on the front of the saddle, right and left,
directly below the horn.  Center-fire means the rings were placed at the middle
of the sides of the tree, a style so much preferred by Californians that it
also was known as the California rig <snip> The Anglo-Americans...improved [the
Mexican stock saddle]...by doubling the rigigging .  The saddle with two
cinches was called a double-rigged or rim-fire saddle, and it came to be the Texas
favorite."  Foster-Harris _The Look of the Old West_  New York: Viking, 1955,
no ISBN, pp 240ff.

The terms "center-fire" and "rim-fire" are by analogy with center-fire
(primer in the center of the base) and rim-fire (primer all around the rim of the
base) metallic cartridges, which were developed during the Civil War.   As far
as I know, cowboys were the only people to use the terms "center-fire" and
"rim-fire" to refer to saddles, although I don't doubt both types of saddles are
still being made today.

Incidentally, a metallic cartridge is an oxymoron, since etymologically a
"cartridge" is a bullet (or shot, or buck-and-ball which is both) plus powder
wrapped in PAPER ("cart").

>  I do not know about grammar but I ain't a grammarian.

Your grammar is fine, and she says you forgot her birthday.

>  One thing cowboys are noted for is their poetry. Perhaps this is due to the
>  loneliness of ranch life -- I can vouch for this since I spent a couple of
>  years living on a small ranch a few miles outside Noplace, Arkansas which
is
>  about ten miles outside Plumb Lost -- but for many many years The Western
>  Horseman has published poetry and today there are many cowboy poetry get
>  togethers in different areas of the US. The best known cowboy poet these
>  days is Baxter Black but in earlier days there were Curly, of course,
>  Haywire Mac McClintock

Haywire Mac is famous as a hobo poet.  Was he also a cowboy poet?

Now for a note on the terms "cowpuncher" and "cowpoke".  In some
long-forgotten book I read that both were terms for a man who rode on the outside of a
cattle car poking at the cows inside with a pole so that they would get exercise
or something.  It was an unskilled dead-end job, even by 19th century
standards, but it had one fringe benefit---a man could sign on at Dodge City or other
cattle drive point and get paid to ride to Chicago (presumably paid enough to
afford the return trip, unless it was included in the job).  So many cowboys
took a turn at cowpunching just to get to see the big city that "cowpuncher" or
"cowpoke" became synonymous with "cowboy".

Does anybody know if this story be true?

Off-topic:  MSNBC News today says that the term "In like Flynn" originated to
describe how the actor Error Flynn emerged unscathed from a potentially
career-destroying scandal.  Correct?  Somehow it sounds to me like an etymythology.


        - James A. Landau
          systems engineer
          FAA Technical Center (ACB-510/BCI)
          Atlantic City Int'l Airport NJ 08405 USA