Whisky dry/Heaven die (1874), Sardines/Herrings: Sweet Chariot; and more

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

PACKED LIKE SARDINES/HERRINGS

I discussed "packed like sardines/herrings" here in October 1999. No one remembers? Nobody at all? Nobody looks in the ADS-L archives? Here it is again:


     Why sardines?
     In a previous posting, I wrote that people on the Lexington Avenue
subway line were "packed like sardines."
     This is from the BARNHART DICTIONARY OF ETYMOLOGY (Amazon's "Eyes"
recently announced a new book called the CHAMBERS DICTIONARY OF ETYMOLOGY,
but it's BARNHART with a different name):

_sardine_ (...)--v. Informal. to pack closely, crowd, cram.  1895, American
English, from the noun, as used in the phrase _packed like sardines_ (1911).

    Christine Ammer's AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF IDIOMS has "late 1800s"
for _packed in like sardines_.
    The Making of America database has:

March 1855, DEBOW'S REVIEW, pg. 300--...made them lie down in each other's
laps, like _sardines_ in a can, and in this way obtained space for the entire
cargo.  (The article is "The African Slave Trade," and this quotation comes
from "Capt. Canot, Twenty Years of an African Slaver," perhaps referring to
1826--ed.)
March 1869, OVERLAND MONTHLY AND OUT WEST MAGAZINE, pg. 273--...packed like
herrings in a cask, or sardines in a box, we...

    Herrings!  Ah, so sardines have some packing competition!

March 1846, LADIES' REPOSITORY, pg. 67--...packed, close as a box of
herrings...
March 1851, SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER, pg. 180--...the guests have as much
elbow room as the herrings in a box...
July 1854, SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER, pg. 430--...packed together like
herrings in a barrel...
September 1870, LADIES' REPOSITORY, pg. 231--...eight babies were packed
around the walls like herrings in a box.
1871, WESTWARD BY RAIL by W. Fraser Rae, pg. 294--The common saying about
being packed as closely as herrings in a barrel...

    It appears from the above that the phrase began as herrings in a
barrel/box/cask, and then became sardines in a can.  This should be recorded.
    The phrase is now "packed as tightly as my travel luggage on a return
trip."


(EARLY AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS)
Boston Commercial Gazette, 1819-08-23, col. 52, isss. 20, pg. 2:
...they are literally packed like herrings in a cask; they each of them paid in advance 150 florins; there will probably be a psetilence on board the ship before it reaches Flushing.

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PROQUEST--Still down. Still no new material for 2005.


SPATCHCOCK QUERY--I don't have time for a detailed answer. My food books are a mess. I do parking tickets all day. My research and writing income this year is $0.


DARYL CUMBER DANCE, MEDGAR EVERS--That should be "Daryl Cumber Dance, not "Caryl," for the author's name...I knew it was Medgar Evers. It looked like Medgar Evans was written in the book so I typed that; it was late and I had more typing. There's a Medgar Evers school here in NYC.


BIG PICTURE--I've posted here several times explaning "the big picture." Picture shows (movies) helped the phrase. I wouldn't say that "big picture" is Victorian.


HAWKINS--Gerald Cohen has requested "Hawkins" from the Peter Tamony file, so that should be coming in a little while. I checked out NEGRO FOLK-TALES (1938) by Helen Whiting and WITH AESOP ALONG THE BLACK BORDER (1924) by Ambrose Gonzales. Both have stories about "wind," but no Hawkins.


WHISKY DRY/HEAVEN DIE--I checked Acessible archives in the NYPL, and it's the same thing but earlier. From the CHRISITAN RECORDER (Philadelphia, PA), 13 August 1874:

The following is said to be a popular song in Duluth:
"Beefsteak when I'm hungry,
Whiskey when I'm dry,
Greenbacks when I'm hard up,
And Heaven when I die."


ALL GOOD DOGS GO TO HEAVEN--I was looking for the last line of the above when this came up. Does Fred Shapiro have a very old cit for this? From the CHRISTIAN RECORDER, 20 February 1873:

"Tom, will kittens and puppies go to heaven when they die, if they  are real good?"
"Ho! they haven't got any soul?"
"Yes, they have. A soul is what looks out of your eyes, and you just look in their eyes..."

(GOOGLE)
[PDF] the Book Mailer
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... fish. The ancient Teutons had a saying: "All good dogs go to heaven." They
had better. For me it won't be heaven without my dogs. ...
www.thebookmailer.com/Order/BMarchive/02SPBM.pdf - Similar pages


SWING LOW, SWEET CHARIOT--I'll check the OXFORD BOOK OF SPIRITUALS (2002) in a minute. What's the origin of this traditional song? "Swing low" was supposed to be a phrase used on the underground railraod. I don't have my HDAS with the letter "S." From the CHRISTIAN RECORDER, 21 January 1875:

A colored gentleman from Haddington, N. J., John Stephenson by name, presided at the organ and led the singing "John Brown," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and other kindred pieces were rendered with great gusto.

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COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC:

WHERE DID BARRY POPIK EAT ON WEDNESDAY?--Astor Place Subway Station. Cheddar Cheese "Combos." Delicious.

WHERE DID BARRY POPIK EAT ON THURSDAY?--Ghenet, Mulberry Street and East Houston Street (right behind the Puck Building). It's a fine Ethiopian restaurant with a nice-looking menu. A little more expensive than Queen of Sheba, but about the same.

WHERE DID BARRY POPIK EAT ON FRIDAY?--I wanted to go to the Mermaid Inn on Second Avenue for fish, but the place was crowded. I went to Secrets of Thai Cooking, First Avenue and Fifth Street. No special secrets here. I asked my Thai server her name. She said it was "Apple."

WHERE DID BARRY POPIK _NOT_ EAT ON SATURDAY?--City Bakery, 3 West 18th Street. They're having a hot chocolate festival. It looked thicker than the Choco Bon Loco that I didn't have at Au Bon Pain. I'm still trying to work off the Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity. This NYC "Hot Chocolate Crawl" is a bad idea.

WHERE DID BARRY POPIK _NOT_ EAT ON SATURDAY?--Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, 61 West 23rd Street. This was featured two days ago in "Daily Candy," and I always trust everything in Daily Candy. It was closed. Someone there said that Daily Candy screwed up. I got a menu and--it's dumpling folks. Dumplings. Daily Candy and others make it seem like these new restaurants re-invent the wheel.

WHERE DID BARRY POPIK _NOT_ EAT ON SATURDAY?--BLT Fish, 21 West 17th Street. This place has been getting terrific write-ups. I was told it's a one hour-plus wait for a table. I could eat at the bar, I was told, but you couldn't get bar space, either.

WHERE DID BARRY POPIK EAT ON SATURDAY?--Caffe Reggio (www.cafereggio.com), 119 MacDougal Street. Awright, so I finally had their "original cappuccino." The place has been there since 1927.

WHERE DID BARRY POPIK EAT ON SATURDAY?--Ama, 48 MacDougal Street. It's been open for three days, and it was featured in a nice article, with a picture of the owner, in Friday's METRO. It's owned by the beautiful Donatella Arpaia (http://www.dbdrestaurant.com, http://www.bellinirestaurantnyc.com). The place is below Houston, on a spot on MacDougal that doesn't get the NYU foot traffic of the other Italian restaurants above Houston. Donatella was there and she said the place was Southern Italian cuisine. She said that METRO had misspelled her name. She said that she was a lawyer for "seven months." The place may or may not make it, but I'm smitten by the owner.