AP confuses ADS and ANS; Ranahan (?)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Barry, I have nothing on "ranahan" before 1936. It seems to be infrequent outside of slang dictionaries. "Ranny" (1925) is far more common; short for "wrangler"? I have a Western "ranikaboo" from 1879 which may or may not refer to an upstart."Ranik" (or "rayneck") (from 1867) meant a lubberly sailor.

  "Waddy," OTH, is quite common, though it was sometimes applied specifically to rustlers:

  1908 William M. Raine _Wyoming_ 231: He was a noted "waddy," or cattle rustler.

  1922 Philip A. Rollins _The Cowboy_ 313 [ref. to 1892]: The movement also had militant apostles in the "waddies," men faithful to the illegal art of rustling.

  Rollins worked as a cowboy during the '80s and '90s, so his information may be esp. reliable.  The subject of both quotes appears to be the Johnson County, Wyo., range war of 1892.

  Here's the earliest ex.:

  1893 Griggs _Lyrics_ 15: And [sic] waddy objecting, was shot in the breast. _Ibid._ 254: In speaking to his comrade, [the cowboy] calls him _waddy_; when talking _of_ one, he refers to him as _puncher_.

  JL



  Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Bapopik at AOL.COM
Subject: Re: AP confuses ADS and ANS; Ranahan (?)
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Amazing. The AP can't read and understand the ADS press release, something
that's handed to the AP each year?
...
...
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Any help on "ranahan"/"ranny" is appreciated. HDAS? OED? Dallas Morning
News? Texas Siftings?
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...

href="_http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0618083499&id=ioHbdtjIKJgC&pg=RA1-PA154&lpg=RA1-PA154&ots=VKhWXTJ7h8&dq=waddy+cowboy&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=WOZzj
vWS4Q7DDlwQZFV7mL11sX8">Google_
(http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0618083499&id=ioHbdtjIKJgC&pg=RA1-PA154&lpg=RA1-PA154&ots=VKhWXTJ7h8&
amp;dq=waddy+cowboy&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=WOZzjvWS4Q7DDlwQZFV7mL11sX8">Goo
gle) Books
Cowboy Lingo
by Ramon F. Adams
New York: Houghton Mifflin
2000
1936 (original copyright)
Pg. 22:
The cowboy was known, too, by such slang names as "ranahan" (which really
referred to a top hand), "saddle-warmer," "saddle-slicer," "saddle-stiff,"
"leather-pounder," "cow-poke," "cow-prod," or "waddie," but the most common term
used in the cattle country was the simple title of "cow-hand" or "hand."
...
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(Dictionary of American Regional English)
ranahan n [Perh ranny + hand] West CF ranny
An experienced cowhand.
1936 Adams Cowboy Lingo 22, The cowboy was known, too, by such slang
names as "ranahan" (which really referred to a top hand).
1936 McCarthy Lang. Mosshorn np West [range terms],
Ranahan,,,An experienced "hand" or cowboy.
...
ranny n
also rannycavoo: A cowboy. sometimes derog Cf ranahan
1907 Sinclair Lure Dim Trails 159 NW, There's going to be roundups
like these old Panhandle rannies tell about, when the green grass comes.
1924 James Cowboys N. & S. 25, Then it was about time for the
"rannies" to pull up their ponies and figger where to go next. They remembered how
they left Texas and how every State from there north was feeling the pinch of
the fences.
1934 (1940) Weseen Dict. Amer. Slang 104 Ranny -- A cowboy on
the open range.
1942 Henry High Border 165 nRocky Mts. Catfish Joe, Hell-roaring
Jones, Theodore Roosevelt, et al., were in the vernacular of the High Bender
"cowpokes," "rannies," "rannycavoos," "hombres," or in a more refined manner,
simply "cowboys."
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11 January 1941, Charleston (WV) Daily Mail,"Fugitive on a Dude
Ranch" by Stephen Payne, pg. 12, col. 4:
Ike introduced him as "Slim," and continued, "Two more rannies, Shorty and
Gabby, are trailin' a bunch o' cows to Eagle butte pasture."
...
...

10 July 1968, New Mexican (Santa Fe, NM), "Spanish, French, Indian,
English -- All in Cowboy Lingo," pg. 4:
Ranahan
A top hand, a cowboy who is efficient.


Ranny
Short for ranahan.

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