"Pooch" (form "puchero"?) (1927)

Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM
Sun Jan 7 09:31:13 UTC 2007


The revised OED disappoints with no entry for "pooch." It's in DARE, from  
1936 (Ramon Adams, as usual). Will "pooch" be in the HDAS? Anybody have  cites?
...
The 1927 article below is interesting.
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(GOOGLE BOOKS)
     
_Cowboy Lingo - Page 145_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0618083499&id=ioHbdtjIKJgC&pg=RA1-PA145&lpg=RA1-PA145&ots=VKhWWYCgp5&dq=pooch+and+cowboy+br
ead&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=whaM9ihagN8h-VoSFHaH765LbTo) 
by Ramon F. Adams - 2000 -  268 pages
“Pooch” was the name of a dish made of  canned tomatoes, sugar, and bread. 
... 
Fancy food, such  as the cowboy heard of being served to people of the 
cities,  ...
Limited  preview - _Table of Contents_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0618083499&id=ioHbdtjIKJgC&printsec=toc&dq=pooch+and+cowboy+bread&ie=ISO-8859-
1&sig=nsJBhH_XPNCK6ok8zRbE9RUVEGg)  - _About this book_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0618083499&id=ioHbdtjIKJgC&dq=pooch+and+cowboy+bread&ie=ISO-8
859-1)  
... 
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_The Cowboy Encyclopedia - Page 142_ 
(http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0393314731&id=_08YPVPGE_MC&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&ots=_6bnnLXUYM&dq=pooch+and+cowboy
+bread&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=XmAtTviOrP9RDeyQi3buj3C9wd4) 
by Richard W. Slatta -  1996
... could whip up a batch  of”pooch”—stewed tomatoes mixed with bread and 
sugar.  
... This was cowboy cuisine at its finest. Profit-minded  ranchers and trail 
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(GOOGLE)
_JSTOR: The Vocabulary of Social Life on the American  Frontier_ 
(http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-373X(195004)9:2<136:TVOSLO>2.0.CO;2-R)      Bread, 
the most staple article of modern  diets, was a rare commodity on the ... 
Kansas City fish for salt  pork, and pooch for tomatoes, sugar, and bread.  ...
links.jstor.org/links.jstor.org/<WBR>sici?sici=0043-373X(195004)9%3A2%3C136%3A
TVOSLO%3E2._Similar  pages_ 
(http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=related:links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-373X(195004)9%3A2%3C136%3ATVOSLO%3E2.0
.CO%3B2-R) 
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_Cowboy Grub, by Richard W. Slatta, proprietor of the Lazy S  Ranch ..._ 
(http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/essays/grub.htm)      Even the greenest cook 
could whip up a batch of  "pooch," stewed tomatoes mixed with bread and sugar. 
Make  Mine Beef: Cowboys everywhere liked fresh beef and  ...
social.chass.ncsu.edu/slatta/essays/grub.htm - 12k  
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24 September 1927, <i>Daily Northwestern</i> (Oshkosh, WI), pg.  2, col. 3:
<i>DIALOGUE OF COWBOYS</i>
<i>GREEK TO STRANGERS</i>
San Angelo, Tex. -- (AP) -- A dictionary would be about as worthless as a  
song in a hurricane to a New Yorker trying to find his way around the ranch  
country of the west.
 
Cowboyese, the dialect of the ranges, is as intricate and snappy as New  
Yorkese and changes almost as rapidly. Some of the terms used in the pioneer  days 
have come down unchanged through the years, but other influences -- mainly  
that of the cavalry in which most of the cowhands fought in the world war -- 
are  apparent in the dialect.
 
What would a native of New York's East Side do if confronted with a  
conversation like this:
 
"The top screw mounted his cutting horse, and, followed by a group of chuck  
eaters, started to trail a bunch of cattle. The corral rope was on his saddle, 
 next to the sougan, and as he placed a brain tablet in his mouth, his mount  
began to swallow its head and soon turned the pack."
 
A "top screw" is a ranch hand who has been on the ranch for years and knows  
the business of that particular ranch from top to bottom. A "waddie" is 
another  name for the same individual.
 
A "cutting horse" is the highest type of cow pony used for separating one  
lot of animals from a large group.
 
"Chuck eater" is the name applied to the young man from the east who  comes 
out to learn the game.
 
"Trailing a bunch of cattle" means taking them on an extended trip from one  
place to another.
 
The "corral rope" was used to make an enclosure for the horses at night,  
being spread about the bushes.
 
The sougan is the blanket or comforter used by the puncher. He usually  
carries three of them and a cotton pillow. It is also called a "velvet couch on  a 
hot roll."
 
A "brain tablet" is a cigaret.
 
A horse is said to have "swallowed its head" when it unexpectedly beings to  
pitch.
 
"Turn the pack" is the favorite expression for a horse throwing  its rider.
 
"Pooch" is the name for the dessert of the cowboy on the range. It  contains 
tomatoes, bread and sugar. When dished out to the "chuck eaters" it was  with 
the remark: "Your pay is raised."
 
"Powders" are orders. "Go and get your powders from the boss" means "the  
boss wants to see you."
 
"Morale" is the feed bag out of which the horses eat.
 
The "remuda" is the collection of horses used by a cow-camp. In Montana and  
that section it is known as the "string."
 
"Sunning his sides" means to pitch or buck. A pitching horse weaves from  
side to side as well as up and down.
 
"Curry him out" means to rake a horse up and down the sides with spurs.  
"Galves" is the word for spurs.
 
A "night horse" is that one that is tied up at night and used to rustle the  
other mounts in the morning. The cook is the "cusinero."
 
"Horse wranglers" have charge of the horses and rustle wood for the cook.  
During the old drives it was not uncommon for a man to change mounts six times a 
 day. "Spool your bed" means to roll bedding."

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



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