"Ofay" etc. from the Freeman

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED (like HDAS, IIRC) has "spade" only from 1928.

So Doug's 1907 is a significant antedating.

As is (again IIRC) 1914 "jig."


JL

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      "Ofay" etc. from the Freeman
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  From "The Freeman" ("A National Illustrated Colored Newspaper")
> (Indianapolis IN):
>
> Via GenealogyBank: just a few selections:
>
> ----------
>
> 22 April 1899: p. 5:
>
> <<The "Ofays" are continually complimenting Mr. Harry Prampin on his band.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 2 September 1899: p. 5:
>
> [from England]
>
> <<The American Troubadours four in number, have just returned to London
> from the continent. All the boys seem to like this side of th[e] water
> and not many speaks of returning. 'Jig-wauks' are scarce, but 'O-fays'
> are plentiful.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 8 November 1902: p. 5:
>
> <<Sam Johnson says: 'R. O. Henderson, how can I sleep where all these
> o'fays, ge gauks and creoles are? [sic]>>
>
> ----------
>
> 7 February 1903: p. 5:
>
> <<Williams and Stevens made such a big hit at the Metropolitan theatre
> that the management wants them to return again as they give give better
> satisfaction as Gewauks than all the Ofays they had.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 22 August 1903: p. 5:
>
> <<We are now in Texas, and business is exceptionally good. The Ofays are
> very quiet; not a shot has been fired, and it seems they have entirely
> forgotten their favorite word 'nigger.'>>
>
> ----------
>
> 17 September 1904: p. 5:
>
> <<Mr. and Mrs. Kersands were the recipients of a large cake at Little
> Rock, Ark. after the show by an esteemed friend and performer of long
> acquaintance, (ofay). Daily the Kersands are meeting nearly as many
> friends among the ofays as colored, and they real[l]y appreciate the
> courtesies extended to them at the hands of both races.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 1 September 1906: p. 5:
>
> <<All is well and we are still doing the business: played Bellview,
> Iowa, last week. "Not [sic] a "Gigwark" in town[.] Until we got there
> many of the "Ofays" had never seen one.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 26 January 1907: p. 6:
>
> [from Europe]
>
> <<I like it over here fine because a "spade" can go any place he likes
> in Germany more than in England, for there are so many American "fofays"
> in England now that they make it hard for "spades." .... We have
> eighteen people -- eight ladies and ten men -- all colors of the "spade"
> race, from the blackest to the whitest[.]>>
>
> ----------
>
> 12 April 1913: p. 5:
>
> <<These two girls go from burnt cork up to O'Fay Geworks, [illegible
> word] from low comedy to high-class opera, from ridiculous to sublime.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 24 January 1914: p. 5:
>
> <<We have an Ofay porter on the car who can talk the jig language
> fluently. Now he is gradually turning huckish from reading "Leopard
> Spots.">>
>
> ----------
>
> 19 September 1914: p. 4:
>
> <<This is a 25c and 35c show, and the old Fays eat it up.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 26 September 1914: p. 6:
>
> <<Fred Finly is the house officer. It seems as if everyone likes him,
> even though he is an Ofay employed by a spade, the crowd follows him
> nightly.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 29 May 1915: p. 5:
>
> <<Cecil Moore, of Moore & Jenkins, arrived from the coast. He met with
> an awful accident in Omaha and had to cancel four weeks. He was shot by
> a cracker on the train, but the Ofay got 15 years. There's justice
> somewhere in the United States.>>
>
> ----------
>
> 26 June 1915: p. 5:
>
> <<The Ofays all gave him the glad hand, as well as the jigs, as he was
> on this show last season.>>
>
> ----------
>
> "Ofay" (with apparent variant [or typo.] "Fofay") is often opposed to
> "Jigwalk" (with apparent variants -- e.g., "Gewauk" and [probably]
> "Jig"). There is also "Spade". None of these seems to be necessarily
> derogatory or offensive. I suppose "huckish" may be related to "Huck" =
> "black person" (1929, HDAS).
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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