antedating "the old dart" (1880)

[Wilson Gray]

OED also includes:

"Old Dart"

"With _the_. Great Britain or Ireland considered as a colonial
people's country of origin."

A helpful bit of additional information for those of us for whom the
phase, "The Old Dart," has no meaning beyond its literal one. I was
disappointed to discover that my WAG that it was a euphemism for "old
fart" was quite wide of the mark

-Wilson

On 9/28/07, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      antedating "the old dart" (1880)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> OED has 1889 "Austral. and N.Z. colloq."
>
> 1880 Milwaukee Daily Sentinel, (Milwaukee, WI) Saturday, June 12, 1880; pg. 7;
> Issue 136; col B
>      Items from the Interior Events of Yesterday in Racine?Flax Fulture in
> Outagamie County?Results of the Storm, Etc. [19th C N]
> ...people familiar with the linen producing districts of Ireland,
> pronounce this
> climate and soil to be almost an exact duplicate of the "old dart."
>
> 1882 St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, MO) Saturday, April 22,
> 1882; pg. 10;
> Issue 336; col B
>      The Justices Well-Known Citizens Involved in Litigation about a
> Dog?Precise Jurymen Agree on a Damage Verdict for ? [19th C N]
> Herman Moller and Louise Bornemann, newly arrived German emigrants were
> married
> last Thursday evening. They were engaged to each other in the old "dart" and
> travellede together across the Atlantic....
>
> 1883 The Daily Journal, (Milwaukee, WI) Saturday, May 05, 1883; Issue
> 144; page
> 2, col A
>      THE authorities at Washington have allowed the profound state secret to
> leak out that John Bull has entered into negotiations for the extradition of
> Sheridan
> Category: News [19th C N]
> THE authorities at Washington have allowed the profound state secret to
> leak out
> that John Bull has entered into negotiations for the extradition of Sheridan
> Walsh and an number of kindred spirits from the Old Dart.
>
> 1883 Milwaukee Daily Journal, (Milwaukee, WI) Tuesday, May 29, 1883;
> page 4, col
> A
>      Firing the Irish Heart Scenes and Incidents at the Academy Last Night
> Category: Arts & Entertainment
> ....Father Boylan, a typical Irishman, fresh from the Old Dart, was the next
> speaker, ....
>
> and;
> The Galveston Daily News, (Houston, TX) Wednesday, September 19, 1883; Issue
> 181; page 2, col F
>      Railway Notes Items along the Lines--Train and Track--Personal Mention
> Category: News
>
> Daily Evening Bulletin, (San Francisco, CA) Saturday, August 23, 1884; pg. 4;
> Issue 118; col F
>      Ireland?s Woes Peculiar Views of Gladstone?s Land Policy?Irish Beer
> out of California Barley?American Farmers Rooting out English
> Landlords?Popularity of Cleveland in England?Free Trade Means English Work
> in America?An Irish Democrat Who Will Vote for Blaine and Protection
> Category: Elections
>
> St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, MO) Sunday, October 23, 1887; pg. 21;
> Issue 151; col A
>      In the Police Courts A Menu of Misfortune, Misery, Depravity and
> Criminality
> Category: News
>
> The Daily Picayune, (New Orleans, LA) Friday, November 02, 1888; pg. 7; Issue
> 283; col G
>      Skelly?s Ready Cash The Irish Laborer Who Got Rich on His Lafourche
> Plantation
> Category: News
>
> St. Louis Globe-Democrat, (St. Louis, MO) Thursday, November 03, 1887; pg. 6;
> Issue 162; col D
>      A Chapter on the Ballet Its Failures and Successes on the American Stage
> Category: News
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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