Earliest Version of "Motherf*cker / Motherf*cking"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

For what it's worth, OED researchers have checked a number of Lowry
citations in the National Archives, and every one has been perfectly
accurate and exactly where he said they could be found.

I'm not sure what happened with that 2009 quote. I know that we checked
several items from that book. Will look into it.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 10:31:42AM -0400, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Despite Thomas Lowry's later scholarly misdeed, I see no serious reason to
> discount the "1865-66" ex. of "motherf*cking" that I posted on Dec. 3,
> 2009.
>
> JL
>
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Earliest Version of "Motherf*cker / Motherf*cking"
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > (I use * in this message to try to avoid its being blocked by people's
> > e-ma=
> > il systems.)
> >
> > The earliest version of "motherf*cker" or "motherf*cking" in OED is from
> > an=
> >  1889 Texas judicial opinion, contributed by me (if you look at my
> > Wikipedi=
> > a biography, you would think this kind of thing is the main focus of my
> > res=
> > earches).  I have now found an earlier citation, again from those colorful
> > =
> > late-19th-century Texas courts:
> >
> > 1888 _Texas Court of Appeals Reports_ 25: 426 ff. (Lexis)  J. H. Battle
> > tes=
> > tified, for the State, that a very short while before the killing of
> > Crisma=
> > n, Herbert Matthewson opened a conversation with Crisman about the shot
> > tha=
> > t was understood to have been fired at Crisman a few nights before.
> > Matthew=
> > son soon left, and witness took a seat on the bench at the edge of the
> > side=
> > walk in front of Crisman's store. Crisman stepped to the edge of the
> > sidewa=
> > lk and placed his foot on the bench and entered into a conversation with
> > wi=
> > tness. Within a few minutes Taylor Ridge came along and asked Crisman to
> > sh=
> > ow him how near the would be assassin of a few nights before came to
> > "getti=
> > ng his meat." Crisman replied that he did not then have on the coat
> > through=
> >  which the bullet passed. Crisman then remarked that the man who fired
> > that=
> >  shot at him was a cowardly son of a bitch and would not dare to face him.
> > =
> > Ridge passed on up the street, and Crisman again remarked that whoever
> > fire=
> > d that shot at him was a "mammy f -- g son of a bitch."
> >
> > I will look the case up in the printed book and post a more precise
> > citatio=
> > n.
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> > Editor
> > YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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