Imported from Brooklyn; Gerald Cohen on NPR

[Mullins, Bill]

 NPR transcript:

HEADLINE: Gerald Cohen remembers David Shulman, his friend and co-researcher
on the origin of the word `hot dog'

ANCHORS: MICHELE NORRIS

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

David Shulman was described as the Sherlock Holmes of American language. His
sleuthing unearthed the first use of thousands of words and phrases,
including the origins of `The Big Apple,' `hoochie-coochie' and `The Great
White Way.' David Shulman died last week in New York City at the age of 91.
Gerald Cohen is a professor of foreign languages at the University of
Missouri in Rolla. He knew David Shulman for 25 years and collaborated with
him on determining the origin of the term `hot dog.'

Professor Cohen, thanks for being with us.

Professor GERALD COHEN (University of Missouri): Oh, happy to.

NORRIS: David Shulman contributed more than 5,000 words and phrases to the
Oxford English Dictionary, and he was something of a self-taught
etymologist. But that title seems almost too precise, too sterile to
describe the passion and the eccentricity that fueled his pursuit of
language.

Prof. COHEN: Well, yes, I would agree with that. There's an enormous amount
of material, information, culture and so forth wrapped up in words. And when
you deal with a word, you're dealing with the building blocks of all of
that.

NORRIS: You know, it's one thing to love language, to love the way it
sounds, as it rolls off your tongue, to love to listen to it. But to
actually search for the origins of a word or a phrase--it's a certain kind
of person who's willing to roll up their sleeves and do that kind of work.

Prof. COHEN: Well, it's a combination of a certain investigative spirit,
plus an appreciation for history. What we have isn't simply here. It
developed. It came from somewhere. And anybody who is involved in history I
think could understand why somebody might be interested in the history of
language.

NORRIS: You worked with him in trying to determine the origins of the word
`hot dog.'

Prof. COHEN: Yes, that is correct. Well, first of all, David Shulman
insisted that it had to come from college slang, and in so doing, he was
disagreeing with two other interpretations out there. He was able to trace
back the term `hot dog' to Yale 1895. It was part of the irreverent humor
that college students have mixed in with a little bit of bad taste, which
college students sometimes have, so they came up with the term `hot dog.' It
referred to the 19th century belief that dog meat could turn up in sausages,
and as a matter of fact, that belief has a basis in fact. So this was back
in 1895. Within five years the term had spread to at least 30 other
universities, so it was solidly rooted in college slang. And from there it
gradually spread and became accepted.

NORRIS: Can you tell us a little bit about how he worked?

Prof. COHEN: Yes, in detail. You get out the old magazines, you get out the
old books, you find something which is interesting, you get a lead and you
follow through and you spend five, six hours sitting in the library. And you
do this day after day, year after year, and gradually you have quite a
volume of work accomplished.

NORRIS: What was his greatest accomplishment? What did he see as his
greatest accomplishment?

Prof. COHEN: I'm sure that he would want to be remembered for the
antedatings. He loved it. And the--you may say Miller time for him was when
he would come up with an earlier attestation than had been noticed before in
the dictionary.

NORRIS: Thanks so much for talking to us, Professor.

Prof. COHEN: OK. Happy to.

NORRIS: Professor Gerald Cohen of the University of Missouri speaking to us
about his friend, the wordsmith David Shulman. He'll soon publish a book
about the origins of the term `hot dog' that credits David Shulman and
another word hunter, Barry Popik, as authors.

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