hoeboy (?)

[Sam Clements]

George:  You're managed to tie together the etymology of both the hot dog
and the hobo.  Congratulations.

A Fan

----- Original Message -----
From: "George Thompson" <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 9:13 PM
Subject: hoeboy (?)


> An unprincipled scoundrel, named Conrad Sweidenmeyer, or some such
> outlandish name, has long been in the habit of making sausages and Bologna
> puddings out of dead rats, cats, dogs, and even horses, by which
> abominable villainy he has realized a considerable fortune.  ***  People
> can not be too cautious how they even touch sausages -- even when made
> properly and by Christians, there is something disgusting about them; but
> as they are now made, by hoeboys, and out of putrid dogs and rats, they
> are truly horrifying.  The sale of them ought to be interdicted by law.
>        Subterranean, June 28, 1845, p. 2, col. 3
>
> Is this perhaps "hoe-boy", i. e., farmer?   Sweidenmeyer seems like a
> typical city guy, though.  But perhaps other sausage vendors at the time
> were from the country.  Otherwise, I'm baffled.
>
> Bon appetit.
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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