Antedating of Flea Market (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Wilson Gray]

You know, I'm not even certain that such a thing as a flea circus
exists. I've heard of the flea circus all of my life, but I've never
seen one or met anybody else who's seen one. AFAIK, the entire concept
may be some kind of shaggy-dog story.

The first such story that I heard, when I was thirteen and, hence, the
first one that I ever went for, had the "punch" line: "All this bull
I'm shittin' you!" Oddly enough, I had long been familiar with the
term, but I had no idea what its referent was. And this was also the
first time that I ever heard the expression, "bullshit." Ten years
later, when I was in the Army, I heard my second shaggy-dog story,
which had a title, "The Sleevejob," but no kind of "punch" line - the
guy is killed, just at the point at which he's about to discover what
a sleevejob is - at all. Nevertheless, I again went for it. But, this
time, I was part of a group of chumps. So, it was funny, instead of
embarrassing. But, somehow, the second time, I finally flashed on the
fact that such tales as these were "shaggy-dog stories."

Maybe Google and / or Wikipedia will allow me to get at the truth of
the matter, WRT the flea circus.

-Wilson

On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 2:40 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
<Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of Flea Market (UNCLASSIFIED)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
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>
> The tone of the article is such that it is difficult to say whether the
> author was pulling our legs.
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society
>> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 1:34 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Antedating of Flea Market (UNCLASSIFIED)
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Antedating of Flea Market (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>> -----------------
>>
>> People were once willing to *pay for* fleas?!!! At a time
>> when a person could acquire them at no charge by merely
>> walking among the people in a market on his way to the
>> flea-seller's booth?!!! Well, you did say that these were
>> trained - I assume - fleas meant for circuses.
>>
>> -Wilson
>>
>> On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 10:56 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
>> <Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
>> > Subject:      Re: Antedating of Flea Market (UNCLASSIFIED)
>> >
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > ---------
>> >
>> > Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED
>> > Caveats: NONE
>> >
>> > The same quote appears in Gale 19th Century newspapers:
>> >
>> > Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco, CA) Monday, August
>> 17, 1891; pg.
>> > 4; Issue 112; col C
>> > Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco, CA) Friday, October
>> 16, 1891;
>> > Issue 8; col H
>> >
>> > And the same anecdote, phrased differently, in Gale British
>> Newspapers
>> > 1600 - 1900:
>> >
>> > "PARIS DAY BY DAY"
>> > The Belfast News-Letter (Belfast, Ireland), Tuesday, July
>> 28, 1891; p.
>> > 6 col 7.
>> > "There is going on just now near the Barriere de Montreuil, at the
>> > extreme east end of Paris a sale of rubbish, familiarly
>> known to its
>> > frequenters by the unattractive name of the "Flea Market." "
>> >
>> >
>> > Gale 19th Century British Periodicals has an 1856 for "Flea
>> Market",
>> > but it is literally that -- a market in which fleas are
>> sold for Flea
>> > Circuses.
>> >
>> >
>> >> -----Original Message-----
>> >> From: American Dialect Society
>> >> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Sam Clements
>> >> Sent: Tuesday, July 08, 2008 6:09 AM
>> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> >> Subject: Antedating of Flea Market
>> >>
>> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> -----------------------
>> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
>> >> Subject:      Antedating of Flea Market
>> >> --------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> -----------------
>> >>
>> >> OED and MW11 both have 1922.
>> >>
>> >> N'archive has _Janesville(WI) Gazette_  4 November 1891 p, 3/4
>> >>
>> >>   "Near the Barriere de Montreuil, in Paris, they have
>> sales of odds
>> >> and = ends known as the "flea market."  A woman recently bought a
>> >> dilapidated = old mattress and, cutting it open, found
>> 14,000 francs
>> >> in gold."
>> >>
>> >> Sam Clements
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >>
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>> > 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
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
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> Caveats: NONE
>
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> 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

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