antedating of "toejam" (1866)

[Wilson Gray]

Though I make no claim WRT the universality of this meaning, in my
experience, "toe jam" is only "matter between the toes." I'm not aware
of any special word for matter under the nails, whether finger- or
toe-.

-Wilson

On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 9:57 PM, Sam Clements <SClements at neo.rr.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> Subject:      antedating of "toejam" (1866)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> OED has 1934.  Of course, they're working on it.  I have no doubt Jon =
> Lighter has some good early ones tucked away.
>
> Using Newspaper archive,  _The Ohio(New Philadelphia) Democrat_ 7 =
> September, 1866, pg.4, col. 2
>
> An article entitled "Take Care of YOur Feet--Good Advice"
>
>  "The following excellent article, taken from an exchange, we publish =
> for the benefit of those of our readers who are peculiarily(sic) =
> troubled with "toe jam."
>
> The article did not say whether the "toe jam" was matter between the =
> toes or under the nails.  That's the question I need answered.
>
> Sam Clements
>
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