"true blue", 1800

[Jonathan Lighter]

My guess is that it means gin. Certainly the context supports it,

Was it a brand name (hence "blue ruin"?).

JL

On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 12:35 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "true blue", 1800
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>
> At 8/23/2011 11:19 AM, George Thompson wrote:
> >I suppose the "blue" meant gin -- don't know why.  It appears in the
> >expression "blue ruin".
>
> George writes "blue ruin" dates from 1811.  (The OED doesn't say why
> it means "gin" either.)  Might my find from 1800 be a significant
> early use of "blue" for gin?
>
> >"Daylights" was a prizefighters' term for "eyes":  _"dim her daylights."_
> >would mean "black her eyes".
>
> Sounds good to me.
>
> (I don't suppose the pirates were hunting snipe.)
>
> Joel
>
> >      The hunt was somewhat annoyed by the number of pirates who located
> >themselves upon the runways, and intercepting the course of the river,
> >killed and poached a number nearly equal to that obtained by the
> >sportsmen. One
> >of these lawless intruders, who, probably excited by an over dose of *blue
> >ruin*, was disposed to be troublesome and impertinent, received from one
> of
> >the drivers of the hunt his pay down, in undepreciated Kentucky currency,
> >producing a total obscurity of his *day-lights* and a most copious
> effusion
> >of claret.
> >
> >New-York American, November 1, 1822, p. 2, col. 5  (I forget what was
> being
> >hunted.)
> >
> >
> >
> >blue ruin = HDAS: 1811 (English); 1821, 1833, (US)
> >
> >day-lights = HDAS: 1752 (English); 1833 (US)
>
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