an unrecorded meaning of the word "pun" -- 1811

Wed Jul 6 17:13:31 UTC 2005

I congratulate you on your initial subtlety, Wilson.  The joke is really yours.

JL

Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: an unrecorded meaning of the word "pun" -- 1811
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On Jul 5, 2005, at 2:16 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
> Subject: Re: an unrecorded meaning of the word "pun" -- 1811
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>
> There's a straight line if I ever heard one.
>
> Yes, Wilson, and the rest of the neighborhood, too.
>
> The whole...NINE YARDS !
>
> (Orchestra blares "No Business Like Show Business." Thundrous
> Applause. Curtain.)
>
> JL.

Well played, Jon!
-Wilson

>
> Wilson Gray wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: an unrecorded meaning of the word "pun" -- 1811
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>
> On Jul 5, 2005, at 1:34 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>> Subject: Re: an unrecorded meaning of the word "pun" -- 1811
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>> He was a Card, all right.
>>
>> No punn intended.
>>
>> JL
>>
>> George Thompson wrote:
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>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: George Thompson
>> Subject: an unrecorded meaning of the word "pun" -- 1811
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>> The passage below is from an 1811 newspaper; it's long, but in
>> addition
>> to its philological interest it is a reasonably entertaining glimpse
>> of
>> life in NYC in the good old days.
>>
>> The word "pun" is used to mean "joke" in the most general sense, or
>> perhaps "prank". It appears in this sense both in the newspaper's
>> story of the incident and also in the official police report that the
>> paper prints. The word in the sense of a play upon words was more or
>> less new in 1811, and likely to have been quite new in America. The
>> police magitrate may have used it under a misunderstanding, and have
>> been followed by the newspaper's editor. But in its part of the story
>> the paper doesn't use any of the usual tricks that show that it is
>> using a new word -- putting it in italics or within "", for instance
>> --
>> which would be an indication that the word or the sense was unfamiliar
>> the editor and that he had picked it up from the magistrate's report.
>>
>> A serious pun. -- Since Thursday evening last, the citizens
>> residing in the neighbourhood of Chapel and Anthony streets, have been
>> much alarmed by a very large assemblage of people before the door of
>> the house No. 142 Chapel-street, brought together from the
>> circumstances which are detailed in the following hand-bill. The
>> occupants of the house refusing to open the doors, the suspicions of
>> the people increased, and such was their anxiety to ascertain the
>> truth
>> of the story, that we are informed numbers entered the yard with
>> spades
>> and shovels, and completely revolutionized the earth
>
> "... completely revolutionized the earth ,,,"
>
> Dug up the whole yard?
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
>> in order to find
>> the murdered man, but to no effect. The Police, finding that the mob
>> increased, and fearful that some mischievous consequences might ensue,
>> determined upon a search, and last evening the doors were opened and
>> the windows of the house illuminated. -- During the search, the mob,
>> which by this time amounted to not less than two thousand persons,
>> waiting with anxious expectation to hear the result, were in the
>> course
>> of an hour gratified with the report. Garrit Gilbert, Esq. one of the
>> Police Justices, appeared on the stoop, and calling the attention of
>> the citizens, stated, that after a thorough search from the cellar
>> kitchen to the garret, in which every hole and avenue had been closely
>> inspected, declared that no suspicious circumstances appeared; and in
>> a
>> neat and judicious harangue, exhorted the citizens to retire to their
>> homes, which was pretty generally complied with; and the street in a
>> short time resumed a quiet appearance.
>> It is to be hoped from the serious consequences which had like
>> to have followed this pun, that our modern quizzers, who appear to be
>> so fond lately of playing tricks upon the community, will learn a
>> lesson that will prove to their future advantage; for had not the
>> proper authority taken this pun in hand as soon as they did, the lives
>> and property of our citizens might have suffered serious consequences.
>>
>> NOTICE.
>> A Rumor having gone abroad that a murder had been committed at
>> No. 142 Chapel-street, on account of a coffin having been left there,
>> which has caused a collection of people;
>> For the satisfaction of the Citizens it is hereby declared that
>> the circumstances have been investigated, and tat the following is the
>> result, viz.
>> A man by the name of HENRY CARD, applys (sic) to a Cabinet-
>> Maker in Banker -street, to have a Coffin made for his wife to be
>> buried in, and directed it to be sent to the corner of Anthony and
>> Chapel-streets: the carriers of the Coffin took it to the place
>> according to directions, but not finding any person here dead, and not
>> wishing to carry it about the street, begged the favour of Katy
>> Butler,
>> who lives at No. 142 Chapel-street, to put it in her yard, until they
>> could find how it was intended for.
>> Some jealousy arising from the circumstance of the Coffin
>> being covered up, which was done on account of the rain, it was
>> surmised that some person had been Murderer there, which caused an
>> investigation of the circumstance. The whole is now admitted by CARD,
>> to be a PUNN of his own contrivance for the sake of some SPORT, and he
>> is now a prisoner in the Debtors Goal for the price of the Coffin. The
>> citizens are therefore requested peaceably to retire, and thereby
>> prevent much trouble and anxiety to the inhabitants in the
>> neighbourhood.
>> By order of J. DE LA MONTAGNIE, One of the Police Magistrates.
>> New-York Evening Post, August 9, 1811, p. 2, col. 4
>>
>> GAT
>>
>> George A. Thompson
>> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------
>> Yahoo! Sports
>> Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football
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