"cornet postilion" and "caperiosky" [Was: Another "kybosh"]
Joel S. Berson
Berson at ATT.NET
Mon Jan 30 14:40:30 UTC 2012
At 1/30/2012 01:04 AM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>Irish? Yiddish? Hebrew? Turkish? Why not Chinese? (^_^)
>
>Here's a fairly early instance of "kybosh" which I don't remember seeing
>before:
>
>Google Books:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/7dp5rdz
>
>----------
>
>Charles Selby, _Maximums and Speciments of William Muggins, Natural
>Philosopher and Citizen of the World_ (George Routledge [London], 1846)
>(preface dated 1841): p. 247:
>
>[apparently regarding cut-throat competition, here apparently musical
>concerts versus drama]
>
><<Then there's the legitimate concerts at the Hopera-house, the
>Hanover-square Rooms, and at the houses of the nobillerty, where there's
>hall the Hitalians and hevery hextrornary foreigner as can be picked
>hup. Then come the concerts and hopperas and waudeweals at the
>public-houses, and last of hall, as a regler finisher, we gets the
>"Concerts Musard." That's wot the Chinese calls the _kybosh_ -- the poor
>hactors is bowled hout and must shut hup shop; none on 'em can stand
>against a solo on the _cornet postilion_, or a caperiosky, or the
>_tombone_, or the _double-barrelled flagelet_.>>
>
>----------
>
>Here "kybosh" seems to = "finisher", more or less as usual.
>
>I'm not inclined to take the "Chinese" part too seriously.
Nor am I, for it (I take it for "those whose origin is the mysterious
East") or for the rest of the piece.
But Doug, tell us what kinds of musical instruments a "cornet
postilion" and a "caperiosky" are! (Your instance of "caperiosky"
seems to be the only one in the entire universe (that is, of Google).)
Joel
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list