language of opium fiends, 1889

[Dave Wilton]

I'd earlier posted a citation for "dope" from a headline in the L.A. Times
of 2 May 1888:

"'Dope' Fiends. Police Officers Raid A Notorious Den. A Sallow-faced
Pipe-hitter and a Nude Female Captured--A Disgrace to Civilized Los
Angeles--The Unfortunate Girl Weeps Bitter Tears."

(It's a shame they don't write headlines like this anymore.)


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 6:34 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: language of opium fiends, 1889

Great find for "dope," George. And good also for "right" and singular
"people."

  I wonder if "yen-suey" is a phonological variant of the more usual
"yen-shee."

  This may be a mere misperception, but for whatever reason the later 1880s
seem to have been unusually productive of "new" slang.

  JL

George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: George Thompson
Subject: language of opium fiends, 1889
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---

SCENES IN AN OPIUM JOINT. *** [on 14th street, in "the old Palm Garden"]
"Who's his jags?" sharply queried the door-keeper. "He's all right,"
announced the stranger. "He was sent here by right people."
*** "Give us a layout and a shell of 'dope,'" ordered the reporter's
companion. [The layout includes] a sponge called . . . a "yen-suey;" a long
tapering needle . . . called a "yen-hock;" and the opium called
"hop-in-yen," "dope," or "hop" for short.
The World, February 10, 1889, p. 20, cols. 5-6.

dope: HDAS: (4b) "illegal stupefying or stimulating drug", 1898-1900, &c.

hop: HDAS: 1886, 1887, 1896, &c

hop-in-yen: OED lists "hop" in the sense of opium under "hop", the plant
used in making beer; HDAS gives an etymology of "hop toy", meaning "bliss
container", or Mandarin "ho ping", "bliss". Is "hop-in-yen" a possibility?

his jags: HDAS has "jag" (3) "a peculiar or inept fellow", from 1906, or (2)
"a drunken person", from a1890-96; here this sounds more like a variant of
"his nibs" (which HDAS has from 1848 in the U. S).

shell: didn't see this sense in OED; CDS has from late 19th C, U. S.

yen-hock: OED: 1882

yen-suey: not in OED; CDS has "yen-shee suey", "opium residue dissolved in
wine", 1930s-1950s

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ.
Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

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