[forwarded from 19cBB] Huzzah now in modern usage

George Thompson george.thompson at NYU.EDU
Sat Mar 7 02:52:56 UTC 2009


Posted to a listserv of harmless crackpots devoted to the study of the history of baseball, and forwarded, with permission, to a listserv of . . . .

Mind you, I've said nothing.

A response to this to the original listserv cited the OED, seemingly to the effect that its latest references are from the late 19th C.  I have been 86ed by my connection to the OED, so I can't verify this.

Ms. Astifan writes, while giving this permission, that she had seen this passage in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle of March 2, 2009.

Original posting follows:

For what it's worth I just read syndicated columnist Kim Komando's article, "Microsoft will trumpet new system, but what's the real reason behind it?" Naturally I was surprised to find the following in the opening paragraph: "When it is released, you can expect brass bands, dancing girls and mighty huzzahs. But why?"

This is the first time I've heard the word huzzah outside of 19th century baseball or early American history texts. And I've not often seen it there. Interesting.

Priscilla Astifan

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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