Antedating of "Hoodlum"

[Fred Shapiro]

On Thu, 27 Feb 2003 Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>    An article in the BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, 12 August 1872, pg. 3, is
> "HOODLUMS: Familiar Characters With New Names."  The article, taken from the
> ALTA CALIFORNIAN, claims that that newspaper coined the term "a year and a
> half ago."

The OED's first use for "hoodlum" is dated Sept. 1871.  Here is a slightly
earlier citation, via American Periodical Series:

1871 _Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine_ Aug. 163  If the young
"Hoodlum" merely takes up his stand at the corner of the streets and there
displays all the glories of his Turkish pantaloons and stub-toed boots, we
hurry him off to prison, and punish him for his obedience to the law of
Nature.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
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