Jimmy Ducks (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

New-Bedford Mercury, 8/14/1835 p 4 col 1 [dateline Portland Advertiser,
so this likely can be antedated there]

"I have formed an acquaintance with Jimmy Ducks, the well-known
personage who has the care of the live stock on board."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of George Thompson
> Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 7:40 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Jimmy Ducks
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> Subject:      Jimmy Ducks
>
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> --------
>
> As is well known, (except among those to whom it isn't well-known,)
> sailors carried generic nicknames linked to their jobs on board ship
--
> as "Chips" (the carpenter) and "Sparks" (the wireless operator).
> In the days before refrigeration, ships carried hens, ducks and goats,
> to supply fresh eggs and milk during the voyage.  The sailor who
tended
> to these critters was "Jimmy Ducks", which HDAS has from 1841.
>
> Patrick, who had been employed on board of ship as a keeper of the
> pigs, cleaner of the styes and coops, and feeder of the poultry, had
> the distinction of being nicknamed "Jimmy Ducks". . . .
>         N-Y D Express, August 3, 1837, p. 2, col. 4
>
> GAT
>
> George A. Thompson
> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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