"little joe from kokomo" and "african billiards"

[Wilson Gray]

Okay. I've long been familiar with " ,,, dominoes" from literature, but
" ... billiards" I've neither read nor heard before today. Given that
actual dominoes is an *extremely* popular game amongst the colored, I
can assume only that "African ... " term must have been thought up by
some member of the other group with nothing better to do than to heap
further opprobrium onto the backs of the members of an already
much-maligned minority. ;-)

-Wilson


On Jul 13, 2005, at 4:13 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "little joe from kokomo" and "african billiards"
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>
> According to HDAS ( " It's Expert Recommended ! " ), "African
> dominoes" and "African billiards" are close contemporaries.
>
> Google has a very few exx. of the former, and nothing current on the
> latter except in the sense of "a game of billiards that's being played
> in Africa."
>
> JL
>
> Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Re: "little joe from kokomo" and "african billiards"
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>
> Was "African dominoes" already obsolete or simply not invented yet?
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
> On Jul 13, 2005, at 3:16 PM, Mullins, Bill wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: "Mullins, Bill"
>> Subject: "little joe from kokomo" and "african billiards"
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>> -
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>>
>> The phrase appears in American Speech Vol. 7, No. 5 (Jun., 1932) as
>> craps/dice slang. Not in OED.
>>
>> "An Ex-Buck Private Goes Back to France" by Paul Adams (NEA Service
>> (syndicate))
>> Texas | Port Arthur | The Port Arthur News | 1927-04-10 p. 7 col 2.
>> "How the galloping dominoes led by Little Joe from Kokomo would roll
>> on
>> that smooth linoleum on the floor of the smoking room on a liner such
>> as
>> those that will carry "The Second A. E. F." back to France!"
>>
>> "The Conning Tower"
>> California | Oakland | The Oakland Tribune | 1925-01-22 p. 16 col 3.
>> "As to the loud and boisterous language, Mr. Hugh Wiley says that Mr.
>> Vitus Marsden's "Shoot six bits. I reads fo'. Little Joe from Kokomo.
>> And I reads a trey an' a one. I'm a wilecat an' I'm on my prowl" can
>> be
>> heard six blocks on a clear day."
>>
>> Little Joe from Kokomo evolved from Little Joe:
>>
>> RIVER-BANK GAMING.
>> Chicago Daily; Sep 10, 1892; pg. 3 col 4
>> "The crap games were patronized principally by the colored
>> 'longshoremen, who rolled the "bones" out on the wharf, and called out
>> for "little Joe" and "Kans' City seben" until they could be heard
>> across
>> the river."
>>
>> CRAPS TERMS BRING FINE
>> The Washington Post (1877-1954); Jul 25, 1922; pg. 2 col 3.
>> ""Baby needs shoes," "little Joe," "snake eyes" and "let it lay, I
>> shoots the works" does not necessarily indicate that the D.C. code is
>> being fractured by the running of a game of African billiards,
>> according
>> to Attorney Royal A. Hughes, who yesterday noted an appeal from the
>> decision of Police Judge Hardison in fining Lawrence A. Bell, colored,
>> $50 for conducting a gaming establishment."
>>
>> [OED does not have "African Billiards" for dice game, nor "baby needs
>> shoes"]
>>
>> more African billiards:
>>
>> "Letter from Leonard McEnroy"
>> Pennsylvania | Wellsboro | The Wellsboro Agitator | 1918-09-11 p. 2
>> col
>> 2.
>> "The climax of this story is though, that the other day I saw a couple
>> of Doughboys in the top of tbe thing playing African billiards. You
>> savvy African billiards? In plain every day English it's shooting
>> craps."
>>
>>
>> PAY DAY FOR TIDE RUM FLEET'S SAILORMEN
>> By JAMES C. YOUNG
>> New York Times Magazine (1857-Current file); Jan 4, 1931; pg. 12 col
>> 4.
>> "In the center of the room stand two billiard tables, a croupier at
>> the
>> head of each. One is given over to a pastime described as African
>> billiards or golf, the other to that deadly game of picquet."
>>
>
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