Uncle Sam (1808? 1812?), Bretzel (1812), Cousin Sally Ann (1861)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

UNCLE SAM, BRETZEL, COUSIN SALLY ANN
...
I finally had time today (it's a holiday; the guys who generously spend a
half hour a day working on my kitchen are off today) to visit NYU and check some
 computer databases. I spent a few hours printing stuff, go to print, and
then  I'm told the entire system is down. After 24 hours, all my print orders are
 destroyed. My entire life is like this.
...
"Uncle Sam" is a favorite topic of mine since my days in his alleged home
town of Troy, New York. There's an 1812 citation from Vermont on Early American
Newspapers, and I would think it knocks out the Troy theory completely. Evans
 Digital has "Uncle Sam" in almanacs from as early as 1808! Any opinions?
...
There's a nice "Cousin Sally Ann" in Early American newspapers from  1861.
...
The 1808-1819 databases has "pretzel' and "bretzel." OED missed this?
...
...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------
FYI: "BIG APPLE" REQUEST, FIFTEEN YEARS LATER
...
I e-mailed the new city council speaker, my new city councilman, the new
Manhattan borough president (who beat me), and every member of the city
council's cultural affairs committee to finally honor the African-American from  New
Orleans who called us "the Big Apple." The city council speaker had just
returned from a "NY helps NOLA" event.
...
No one responded.
...
Stanley Crouch (scrouch at nydailynews.com) a has a NY Daily News column  today
about NY helping New Orleans. It begins:
...
_http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/392872p-333158c.html_
(http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opinions/story/392872p-333158c.html)
The humanity of New York is one thing that we can say  is never in doubt. One
of the most recent examples of the feeling for others  that lurks behind the
city's sometimes abrasive mask is the response to  Hurricane Katrina being
expressed through a week-long exhibition of artwork,  from Feb. 22 to 28, at the
World Financial Center's Winter Garden. The auction  and sale of the work will
benefit hurricane victims, the rebuilding of the city  of New Orleans and the
Gulf Coast's artists involved. It is called, "From the  Art of New York."
...
...
So I wrote to Stanley Crouch and told him the story  that the New Orleans
African-American stablehand who called us "the Big Apple"  should certainly be
honored now, but no one listens. If we tried, we could give  this person a name.
...
Fifteen years of being treated like shit. I want to  kill myself.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org