Honest injun (antedating 1867)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Good stuff, Garson.

JL

On Wed, Jul 7, 2010 at 4:37 PM, Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Honest injun (antedating 1867)
>
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>
> OED and HDAS include "Honest injun". In both references the first cite
> that accords with the spelling "Honest injun" is Mark Twain's Tom
> Sawyer in 1876. Further below are some cites for "Honest injun"
> starting in 1867.
>
> OED (1989) Injun  b. In various allusive uses and phrases: honest
> Injun, honour bright: perh. orig. an assurance of good faith extracted
> from Indians; to play Injun: to act like an Indian; to avoid being
> seen or captured; of children playing, to pretend to be Indians.
>
> OED has a cite in 1676 for "honest Indians" as a non-allusive term.
> The first cite for "honest Injun" is Tom Sawyer as noted above.
>
> The HDAS entry for "honest Injun" includes an initial cite dated 1851
> for "honest Indian" followed by the Tom Sawyer cite. Google Books has
> an instance of the 1851 cite. The publication date is 1854 and the
> phrase "honest Indian" appears in a letter dated 1851 September 30.
> This citation provides one data point concerning whether the term was
> disparaging in 1851.
>
> Cite: 1854 July, "The Pioneer: or, California Monthly Magazine",
> "California in 1851 by Shirley: Letter Sixth: A Trip into the Mines:
> Rich Bar, East Branch of the North Fork of Feather River, September 30
> 1851" Page 25, Volume II, Number 1, W.H. Brooks & Company, San
> Francisco, California.
>
> For instance, if you tell a Rich Barian anything which he doubts
> instead of simply asking you if it is true, he will invariably cock
> his head interrogatively, and almost pathetically address you with the
> solemn adjuration, "Honest Indian?" Whether this phrase is a slur or a
> compliment to the aboriginees of this country. I do not know.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=D0jOAAAAMAAJ&q=Barian#v=snippet&
>
>
> Below are 1867 and 1868 citations for "honest Injun". In addition, an
> 1875 cite provides another single data point about whether the term
> was viewed as disparaging in 1875.
>
> Cite: 1867, Venetian Life by W.D. Howells, Page 288, Hurd and
> Houghton, New York. (Google Books full view)
>
> Don't be mean about it. I won't give you away Honest Injun!
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=6fEpAAAAYAAJ&q=Injun#v=snippet&
>
>
> Cite: 1868 March, The Atlantic Monthly, "John Chinaman, M.D." by J.W.
> Palmer, Page 259, Volume XXI, Number CXXV, Ticknor and Fields, Boston.
> (Google Books full view)
>
> The red and gold diploma of the Peking College of Medicine hangs in
> Tchung-tseen's office by way of an advertisement; but if it did not,
> the Dean and Faculty would still have no more power to restrain him
> from dispensing the supernatural treasure of red pills, than the
> executive committee of the Honest Injun Society for the Suppression of
> Hocus-Pocus can hinder him from prescribing the Three Manies and the
> Nine Likes as a prophylactic in severe cases of superannuation.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=31pBAAAAYAAJ&q=Injun#v=snippet&
>
>
> Cite: 1875 July, Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine, A Girl's Victory by
> H. Vickery Dumont, Page 71, Volume XCI, Number 541, Published by Louis
> A. Godey, Philadelphia. (HathiTrust)
>
>  "You promise to accept it?" Mark questioned,
> eagerly, his boyish face dimpling into
> smiles. "You promise, honest Injun?"
>  "What does 'honest Injun' mean, first?"
>  "Oh, the same as honor bright, you know,"
> Mark explained, his eyes still wandering amusedly
> to Leslie's uplifted eyebrows. "Indians
> are so uncertain, that when we mean certainty,
> we say 'honest Injun.'"
>  "Well, I am uncertain, too; so I'll say dishonest
> Injun."
>  "No," corrected her teacher. "In that case
> you simply say Injun. It is quite sufficient as
> a synonyme for unreliability."
>  Opal was leaning against the door by this
> time, but she uplifted her face at that, and
> looked with dancing eyes at her evidently
> unadmiring host.
>  "I am not acquainted with any Indians,"
> she said, "so I'll close the bargain by saying
> 'lawyer.' That will be quite as unreliable,
> won't it?"
>
> http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015004111087
>
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