hay-foot, straw-foot (antedating 1841)

[Garson O'Toole]

OED (1989) has "hay-foot, straw-foot" with a first cite in 1851. Here
is a cite in 1841 and one in 1845.

1841 June 8, The Madisonian, "Poettical. From the Charleston Courier:
The Senatorial Departure, Or Democratic Escort", Page 1, Column 3,
Washington City, District of Columbia. (GenealogyBank)

I'm dreadful fear'd I can't walk strait'
Hay foot - straw foot – here we go

(The scan is very difficult to read so please double-check this
information if you plan to use it.)

1845 May 16, Jamestown Journal, "Rough Notes: Correspondence of the
Censor: Albany, May 8, 1845", Page 2, Column 3, New York.
(GenealogyBank)

The militia bill, provided it should pass the House, which is
doubtful, would stand no chance of getting through the Senate. So 'hay
foot, straw foot' must go it still longer.

Garson

On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 5:15 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: OT: Wall Street Journal discovers linguistic relativism
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  Fair correction. There is an additional meaning, in Russian, of
> course, based on the derivation--it is the same expression that is
> occasionally used when someone confuses the right and the left, giving
> direct credence to the story.
>
> I exaggerated the "bales", of course, but "wisps" sounds like a lot less
> than the version I heard. Perhaps "handful" or "bunch"--informal
> measures are so hard with long thin objects.
>
>     VS-)
>
> On 7/26/2010 4:27 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> This supposedly also happened during the American Civil War, though wisps of
>> hay and straw were allegedly used rather than hard-to-manage "bales."
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 4:10 PM, Victor Steinbok<aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       Victor Steinbok<aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> Subject:      Re: OT:  Wall Street Journal discovers linguistic relativism
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>   Russian lore has it that, when Peter I (the Great, if you wish) wanted
>>> to modernize the Russian military training, essentially following the
>>> "Prussian method", his drill sergeants tied bales of hay to one leg and
>>> straw to the other, thereby commanding the raw recruits to turn toward
>>> hay or straw. This anecdote (likely apocryphal) is often used as folk
>>> etymology for the Russian proverbial "hay-straw" ([seno-soloma]) that is
>>> used in the same sense as "six of one, half a dozen of the other".
>>>
>>>      VS-)
>>>
>>> On 7/26/2010 8:43 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>>> At 7/26/2010 05:52 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote [Quoting the WSJ]:
>>>>>> Some indigenous tribes say north, south, east and west, rather than
>>>>>> left and right, and as a consequence have great spatial orientation.
>>>> The "wild Irish," when recruited into the British army, rather than
>>>> left or right would be commanded to turn toward bread or
>>>> cheese.  Having been given those two staples of the contemporary diet
>>>> for their respective pockets.  According to John Dunton, circa 1696,
>>>> while temporarily resident in Massachusetts..  Who would probably
>>>> have agreed that they had lesser spatial orientation than the
>>>> indigenous tribes.
>>>>
>>>> Joel
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>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
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