c-note (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill CIV (US)]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

_Springfield Republican_ 8/2/1929 p 29 col 1 (story by Damon Runyon)

"My  operatives inform me that a commission has been receive in this
town from Mr. Al Well, matchmaker of the Queensboro arena, in New York,
who is betting $100 against
$266, and taking Canzoneri for his.  Moreover, Mr. Well, more familiarly
known as Weskit, has laid his "C" note right on the old line."

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of ADSGarson O'Toole
> Sent: Friday, June 14, 2013 8:13 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: c-note
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: c-note
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
>  Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> >
> > In Wiktionary (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/c-note) and in a
> citation
> > = in the OED under "benji," but no entry in the OED.=20
> >
> > -----
> > =
> > http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/javale-mcgee-100-
> homel
> > ess-= man-video-sleeping-street-161840470.html
> >
> > On one hand, I think it's cool that JaVale's response to coming
> across
> > = someone who could surely use a C-note more than he could is to
peel
> > one = off.
>
> JL's Historical Dictionary of American Slang has an entry for "C note"
> with a cite in 1930. Below is evidence for a cite in 1929. I think the
> OED has been incorporating some material from HDAS over time.
>
> [Begin excerpt]
>
> C-note n. [C + NOTE] Gamb. a one-hundred-dollar bill.
>
> 1930 Liberty (Oct. 11) 30: We gave him five C notes and two tens.
>
> 1954 Schulberg Waterfront 8. He was always good for fifties and
C-notes
> peeled off the fat roll.
>
> [End excerpt]
>
> I think there is an instance of "C note" in 1929 in a Damon Runyon
> short story. Runyon used the term repeatedly in his tales. The excerpt
> below is from a short story in a collection at Project Gutenberg
> Australia. The bibliographic data is from an entry in Oxford
Dictionary
> of Humorous Quotations This story is part of a group that inspired the
> Frank Loesser musical "Guys and Dolls".
>
> 1929 August, Cosmopolitan,
> "A Very Honorable Guy" by Damon Runyon
>
> http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks11/1100651h.html
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> 'There is the big trouble,' Feet says. 'I owe The Brain a C note
> already, and I am supposed to pay him back by four o'clock Monday
> morning, and where I am going to get a hundred dollars I do not know,
> to say nothing of the other ten I must give him for interest.'
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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