"dudo", 1840, meaning ???

[George Thompson]

The "dudo" was "claimed as the common property" by three women, which
doesn't sound like a pair of dice or a game at dice.
Doesn't sound very much like clothing, either.
I may be in the city next Wednesday, and may have a chance to look at this
article again, to confirm my note, and to get further context.

The newspaper editors of that day liked to be appreciated for being with-it,
and would give their readers a little nudge in the ribs to get their
attention.  They often put new or slangy words into italics, or within
quotes, or introduced them with a comment like "as the boys say" or "to use
a Kentucky expression" -- it has long been my practice to make a note
whenever I see a word highlighted thus.

GAT

On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 3:22 PM, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:

>        Is there any chance that it's the Spanish word dudo, doubt,
> which I understand is a dice game?  That would certainly mesh with the
> italicization, although perhaps this newspaper also italicized ordinary
> English slang words.
>
>        "Duds" is an old slang term, but I would think that "booze,"
> which dates to the 14th century, would also have a claim as the slang
> word with the greatest slangevity (though OED tags it as colloq., not as
> slang).
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Laurence Horn
> Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 1:54 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "dudo", 1840, meaning ???
>
> At 12:41 PM -0500 6/23/11, Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
> >Not at all likely to be "dude."  My guess is it's a misprint for
> >"duds" (clothes),
> >and this was the term used by the women when the police or reporter
> showed up.
> >---- G. Cohen
> >
>
> --a particularly impressive word, showing up in 15th and 16th c.
> slang compendia and having remained as a slang word ever since.
> Can't think of any rival to its status for slangevity.
>
> LH
>
> >_____________________________
> >
> >From: Original message from George Thompson, Thu 6/23/2011 12:27 PM:
> >
> >      *Mayhem*. -- On Friday evening three black wenches residing at 40
> >Wooster st. . . . , got into a wrangle about some *dudo* claimed as the
> >common property of the trio.    ***
> >      Morning Courier & New-York Enquirer, June 8, 1840, p. 2, col. 3
> >
> >My notes don't make it explicit that the "dudo" (which was italicized)
> was a
> >person, specifically a man, but presumably so.
> >Can this be connected with the word "dude", not recorded until about 40
> >years later?
> >GAT
> >George A. Thompson
> >
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>
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>



--
George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ.
Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.

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