Remarkable Citation for "Tiddlywink," etc.

[Shapiro, Fred]

I have not yet had a chance to figure out all the etymological implications of this remarkable citation, which stems from the epochal deregulation of the sale of beer in Britain in 1830.  Besides antedating the word "tiddlywink" by 13 years, I think it calls into question the previously accepted history of the game of "tiddlywinks"; significantly antedates and calls into question some of the OED's etymological speculation relating to "tom and jerry"; significantly antedates "hokey pokey"; and antedates "beer-shop."  The 1832 citation for "tiddlywink" I posted in another email also antedates "shove-halfpenny."

The "tiddlywink" citation is of special significance to me, because, as anyone who knows the odd details of my life story knows, it was researching the history of this word that first led me to become a contributor to the OED.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Shapiro, Fred [fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU]
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2013 8:50 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Further Antedating of "Tiddlywink"

tiddlywink (OED 1844)

1831 _Jackson's Oxford Journal_ 26 Nov. (19th Century British Newspapers)  A beer-shop has recently been opened in Wells-street, Hackney, called "The Hokee Pokee and a Pot of Mild;" where ales are sold, bearing the following quaint names, at per pot, viz.: "Hokee Pokee, sixpence; Ram Jam, fivepence; Tom and Jerry, fourpence; and Tiddley-wink, three-pence; drawn mild in your own pots."

Fred Shapiro

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