"Wop" in 1908?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 4/29/2010 03:28 PM, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>Joel S. Berson wrote
> > Subject:      Re: "Wop" in 1908?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 4/28/2010 09:20 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >>Good one.
> >>
> >>Cleveland *and* N.Y. within a few months?
> >>
> >>Interesting.
> >
> > I wonder -- Where was the marathon conducted?  Is the Cleveland
> > article a reprint from somewhere else, e.g. New York?
> >
> > Perhaps this is less significant since earlier dates -- 1906 instead
> > of 1908 -- have been discovered.
> >
> > Joel
>
>The 1908 article says at the beginning "BY PLAIN DEALER'S LEASED
>WIRE". The dateline is "NEW YORK, Dec. 15"
>
>Here is an excerpt giving the setting:
>
>... The scene that followed Dorando's other dramatic failure in the
>London stadium was as nothing to that which was witnessed in Madison
>Square garden tonight when the little Italian toppled over at the
>27th-st turn ...
>
>Sorry I did not give more extensive excerpts to show the original
>setting. This 1908 article perhaps shows the dissemination of the
>term.

So the marathon and news item *did* come from New York.  My
conclusion is somewhat the opposite:  It suggests that the term may
still have been local to New York in 1908 -- but of course only
because it is not solid evidence that the term was in use in Cleveland.

Joel

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