"Wop" in 1908?

[Jonathan Lighter]

Hey, I stand corrected. "Feb. 3, 1909" was the copyright date for the
dance-band version!

Brockman's song was registered on July 23, 1908.

Did somebody say this was easy?

JL

On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 4:53 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> James Brockman's novelty song, "Wop, Wop, Wop!" (N.Y.: Witmark, 1908 [but
> actually copyright Feb. 3, 1909]) may have helped popularize the word.
>
> Acc. to the N.Y. _Eve. Telegram_ (July 29, 1909)  (findable here if you've
> got lots of time: http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html<http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html> ),
> it was "one of the quaintest Italian novelty songs of the many that have
> been offered to the public the last two or three years. It is by no less a
> person than Mr. James Brockman [1886-1967: ed.], the well known writer and
> composer.
>
> "The story, told in a serio-comic way, tells of the troubles of an Italian,
> whose feelings are injured by the various nicknames given him in this
> country, and deals with his efforts in trying to prevent being called first
> 'Dago,' then 'Guinie,' and last of all, 'Wop.'
>
> "Mr. Brockman has set the words to a tuneful and pleasing little melody
> that makes it a particularly bright song for a part of the social
> programme."
>
>  Check out the lyrics. They imply that "wop" was something new:
> http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.100004968/pageturner.html?page=2&section=&size=640
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Apr 29, 2010 at 3:42 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: "Wop" in 1908?
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> 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
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
>  "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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