Siamese Connection (1879, 1884); Underdog (1884)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Barker's "doggerel" appeared earlier than the Oct. 1859 _Liberator_ -- for
instance, the _Illinois State Chronicle_ printed it on Apr. 28 of that
year (see N-Archive).  Note also that by the time of its appearance in the
_Liberator_, the poem was well-known enough to spawn responses (Barker's
verse is followed by others entitled "The Upper Dog in the Fight", "The
Outside Dog in the Fight", and "The Dog that Goes in for the Right").


--Ben Zimmer


On Thu, 19 May 2005 16:16:45 -0400, Baker, John <JMB at STRADLEY.COM> wrote:

>If it's really from the Barker poem (that is, if Barker really originated
>the phrase, rather than using an existing term), then it seems to have
>spread rapidly.  From the Dec. 1862 Harper's, via Making of America
>(Cornell):
>
><<"And, bretheren, you and I know that occasionally, if not oftener,
>I've been the under-dog in the fight.  Many's the lammin' I've took from
>him.  But when he had the best of it, and I was jes ready to give in
>beat, the Lord reached out the hand, and I up and at him agin."
>
>John Baker
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
>Of Benjamin Zimmer
>Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 4:08 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: Siamese Connection (1879, 1884); Underdog (1884)
>
>
>On Thu, 19 May 2005 15:13:37 -0400, Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>wrote:
>
>>1859 David Barker [is that name for real?] [poem entitled "The Under Dog
>>in the Fight"] in _Liberator_ 28 Oct. 172 [American Periodical Series]
>>But for _me_ -- and I care not a single fig If they say I am wrong or
>>right -- I shall always go in for the _weaker_ dog, For the under dog in
>>the fight.
>
>An early hyphenated example, via Literature Online:
>
>1866 C. G. HALPINE _Baked Meats of the Funeral_ 331 Always with a tendency
>to side with the "under-dog" in every fight.
>
>http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/chad-pt/pageturner.pl?id=eaf563T&image=563-344.jpg
>(page image requires subscription to Chadwyck-Healey)