Query: "I've got your number."

[Mark Mandel]

The first cite --
up we got, wid four men more on the seats, an' two in
the well o' the car, which oughtn't to carry only four altogether ;
an' indeed the horse seemed to think he'd got his number. But cruelty
to animals wasn't minded then, whin people were goin' down to "The
'Brook." --
seems to me to make most sense as 'the limit': the horse seemed to think
he'd already been given all he was supposed to have to haul (and then some).

m a m


On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 10:57 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> Here's the earliest I found (after Wellington's dispatches of 1815
> that were not published until the 1830s--1834-1849, to be more
> precise). Note the connection to Dickens (editor), who also used the
> phrase later in his works.
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=A8YRAAAAYAAJ
> Bentley's Miscellany. October, 1841
> Donnybrook Fair, By Dillon. p. 360
> 'Well, Pether an' I wint up to Stephen's Green, an' there we got a
> car, ov coorse, that wur goin' down to Donnybrook. "Fourpence
> a-piece," sis the man, "an' aff at once."--"That'll do, sir," sis
> Pether, an' so up we got, wid four men more on the seats, an' two in
> the well o' the car, which oughtn't to carry only four altogether ;
> an' indeed the horse seemed to think he'd got his number. But cruelty
> to animals wasn't minded then, whin people were goin' down to "The
> 'Brook."
> =====
>
> Here's Alcott's use.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=m8tEAAAAIAAJ
>
> Aunt Jo's Scrap-bag. My girls, etc. By Louisa May Alcott, 1883 (Copyright
> 1877)
> p.35
>
> [p. 28]  We had no engaged a carriage to come for us, knowing that a
> cab-stand was near by, and that a cab would be much cheaper than the
> snug broughams ladies usually secure for evening use.
> Out flew the little maid to get us a cab, and we hurried on our wraps
> eager to be gone. ...
> [p. 29] ... being independent Americans ... we ... bundled in, gave
> the address ... and away we went.
> [p. 35] "Young man, if you don't wake up and take us to Colville
> Gardens as quickly as possible, I shall report you tomorrow. I've got
> your number, and I shall get my friend, Mr. Peter Taylor, of Aubrey
> House, to attend to the matter. He's an M. P., and will see that you
> are fined for attempting to drive a cab when you know nothing of
> London."
> =====
>
> And here's one Wellington bit.
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=wDXSAAAAMAAJ
> The Dispatches of Field Marshall The Duke of Wellington, During His
> Various Campaigns in India, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Low
> Countries, and France. London, 1847
> The Waterloo Campaign. p. 117
> To Lieut. Gen. Sir G. L. Cole, G.C.B.      Bruxelles, 2nd June, 1815
> I wish I could bring everything together as I had it when I took leave
> of the army at Bordeaux, and I would engage that we should not be the
> last in the race ; but, as it is, I must manage matters as well as I
> can, and you may depend upon it that I will give you as many of your
> old troops as I can lay my hands upon. I saw the 23d the other day,
> and I never saw any regiment in such order. They were not strong, but
> it was the most complete and handsome military body I ever looked at.
> I shall find it very difficult to get Gen. Colville to part with it.
> However, I will do what I can. In the mean time I will settle nothing
> about the command of the two divisions till you or Sir T. Picton shall
> arrive.
> I feel your partiality to your old number, which also shall be
> gratified if I can do it without hurting the feelings of others, who
> have already got your number. It is a sympom of the old spirit we had
> amongst us, than which we cannot have a better.
> =====
>
> VS-)
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 10:30 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > What about house number on your street?  "I know where you
> > live."  When did houses begin to be given numbers, in England or the
> > U.S.?  (Not in the first half of the 18th century, in New
> > England.  But by the time of Sherlock Holmes.)
> >
> > As for Victor's (5), instead of the witness's number, is this a
> > document number or case number?  In the 17th century court records in
> > Massachusetts, cases were numbered, presumably for cross-referencing
> > when there were intervening records (e.g., depositions taken one
> > session, trial at a later session).
> >
> > And of course baseball players who want a former star's old number.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > At 3/17/2010 01:59 AM, victor steinbok wrote:
> ...
> >>5) Very common references in British Commissions (Royal/Parliamentary)
> >>who, while questioning witnesses, would respond to submitted records
> >>(usually in advance, with copies held by witnesses) with "I've got
> >>your number." I am not quite sure why it's "number" and not "numbers",
> >>but that's what's on record. Of course, I did not search for "numbers"
> >>so such references may be even more numerous. The bottom line is that
> >>it was the same turn of phrase and used during the same period.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>

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