crude = crude oil, petroleum

[James A. Landau <JJJRLandau@netscape.com>]

     _The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events of the year 1863_  New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1864.  Accessed on Google Books

<quote>
     One of the most remarkable features in the export trade was the rapid increase in the quantity of coal oil or petroleum, shipped as follows:

     <table for 1861, 1862, and 1863 snipped>

The average price of crude was 30.4 cents.  This very large business has grown up in the three last years, and as the use of the article spreads in europe, it seems scarcely to have a limit to its future growth.
</quote>

I also have a question as to whether in the 1860's "coal oil" was a synonym for "petroleum".

OT:

At 2/4/2010 10:42 PM, Mark Mandel wrote:

>OTOH...
>
>Possum up a simmon tree
>Raccoon on the ground.
>Raccoon says, "Mister Possum,
>Won't you shake some simmons down?"
>
>(CHO:)
>Unca Reuben got a coon, dang-GON'T (chick-a-chick),
>dang-GON'T (chick-a-chick), dang-GON'T (chick-a-chick),
>Unca Reuben got a coon, dang-GON'T (chick-a-chick),
>And left me here behind.

As soon as I saw this, I noticed it can be sung to "Pistol-Packin' Mama", written by Al Fletcher and recorded by Bing Crosby in 1944.  Did Fletcher write a new set of words to an old folk tune, or what?

   - Jim Landau

_____________________________________________________________
Netscape.  Just the Net You Need.

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