Q: "jag" (n) & "dun" (n), 1930

[Philip E. Cleary]

Wouldn't "dun" be a letter from a bill collector?

On 2/6/2010 1:10 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> I don't know what to make of "jag" (n) and "dun" (n) in the
> following, a satire of a newspaper wedding report:
>
> "In addition to his jag he [the groom] carried a pocket knife, a
> bunch of keys, a dun for the ring and his usual look of imbecility."
>
> According to MacDougall, Curtis D. Hoaxes. 2nd ed. New York: Dover
> Publications, 1958, pages v-vi, this appeared in January 1930 in the
> Fountain Inn (S.C.) Tribune, ed./publ. Robert E. Quillen.  MacDougall
> does not give any more precise citation.  ["a dun for the ring" shows
> up in Google Books: The voice of small-town America: the selected
> writings of Robert Quillen, p. 78, but with a date of June 6, and
> perhaps 1929 (see TofC for "The Bride is a Skinny, Fast Little
> Idiot.")  Page 2 indicates a reprint in Cosmopolitan, September 1933.]
>
> For "jag" the closest I can come (which doesn't seem very near) is
> "jag, n1", "5. A jagged piece of metal fitted on the end of the
> ramrod of a rifle, and used, with some tow or rag fastened to it, to
> clean the barrel"
>
> For "dun" (noun), I see (but do not put much faith in) "dun,
> n1",  "3. A name for various dusky-coloured flies used in angling,
> and for artificial flies imitating these."
>
> Joel
>
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