Antedating of "Socialism"

[Wilson Gray]

What on earth is "GiNGLEISM"?

-Wilson

On Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 7:48 AM, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Socialism"
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>
> Wouldn't you know: VERMONT!
>
> --Charlie
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
>>Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 20:34:38 -0500
>>From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> (on behalf of "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>)
>>
>>socialism (OED 1833)
>>
>>1801 _Weekly Wanderer_ (Randolph, Vermont) 27 June (America's Historical Newspapers)
>>
>>COMMUNICATION.
>>ON THE TERMINATION _ISM_.
>>
>>HOW often has this little word
>>In genteel arguments occurr'd;
>>As tho' the soul of SOCIALISM
>>Must be transmitted thro' a PRISM;
>>Which like the Prism Glass, indeed,
>>Affords all colors which we need.
>>
>>High in the front see ATHEISM,
>>And next in rank stands TOM PAINEISM,
>>With jovial UNIVERSALISM,
>>Akin to JACOBINISM,
>>Which stands oppos'd to FEDERALISM;
>>And all together make GINGLEISM.
>>
>>Kind Heaven grant me MASONISM,
>>With all the joys of FREEDOMISM,
>>And shield my bones from RHEUMATISM,
>>And I'll be proof 'gainst DEVILISM.
>>
>>NOTE:  The above citation seems "too good to be true" as an antedating of _socialism_, but internal evidence from the newspaper page makes it clear that it is correctly dated.  Much less certain is what the meaning of _socialism_ is here, and whether it has any connection to the later signification.
>>
>>Fred Shapiro
>>Editor
>>YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)
>
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--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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