slight antedating: "million-dollar wound" (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mon Aug 18 17:28:08 UTC 2014

He says it was in the "parlance of his camp." That tells me the quote marks
are meant to endorse actual Civil War usage.

In simple purchasing power, a million in 1865 would be worth 14.8 million
today - or 1.11 mill in 1944 (according to
http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/relativevalue.php).

In other words, far more than plenty, but not a truly astronomical amount.
But it's all subjective.

"Million-dollar wound" might have been preferred to "thousand-dollar"
because "million" was just as familiar a word and a much bigger amount.

JL

On Mon, Aug 18, 2014 at 1:01 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: slight antedating: "million-dollar wound" (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> "Million dollar" represents a large amount of money to me in a way that
> oth=
> er amounts don't.  A "billion dollar wound" would be ridiculous, and a
> "tho=
> usand dollar wound" -- so what.  Until not so long ago in American
> history/=
> culture, it would have been the amount of money that, if you had it, you
> we=
> re set for life.
>
> The go-to word for rich person for a long time was Millionaire, but maybe
> n=
> ow it doesn't convey it well.
>
> What I'm getting at is, does "million dollar" make sense ca. 1945 in a way
> =
> that it wouldn't in 1905, or even more so in 1865?  Would a million
> dollars=
>  have been too large an amount to make a sensible expression back then?
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> > Sent: Monday, August 18, 2014 11:03 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: slight antedating: "million-dollar wound" (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >=20
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: slight antedating: "million-dollar wound"
> > (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >=20
> > Amazing and incredible (in the current sense), Bill.  Hunter says he
> > based his book largely on notes made during the Civil War. Copyright
> > date of the copy I see is 1904.
> >=20
> > He is allegedly the coiner of the phrase "Billy Yank" (which as a
> > "literary" term isn't in HDAS).
> >=20
> > More significantly: no attestations between 1904 and late in WW2 (much
> > less before 1904).
> >=20
> > Cf. the Civil War ex. of "brass" (commissioned officers) in HDAS.
> >=20
> > Independent inspiration or real continuity of usage?  I suspect the
> > former.
> >=20
> > JL
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > On Mon, Aug 18, 2014 at 10:56 AM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
> > william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
> >=20
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)"
> > <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> > > Subject:      Re: slight antedating: "million-dollar wound"
> > (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > > ---------
> > >
> > > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > > Caveats: NONE
> > >
> > > From Google Books:
> > >
> > > Alexander Hunter _Johnny Reb and Billy Yank_ New York, Washington:
> > > Neale Pu=3D blishing Co. 1905 p 549 "In the parlance of our camp, I had
> > > a "million-dollar wound," which meant a=3D  long furlough with no
> > danger
> > > to life or limb."
> > >
> > >
> > > http://books.google.com/books?id=3D3D-
> > 7MTAAAAYAAJ&pg=3D3DPA549&dq=3D3D%22mil
> > > lion+=3D
> > >
> >
> dollar+wound%22#v=3D3Donepage&q=3D3D%22million%20dollar%20wound%22&f=3D3D=
> fal
> > > dollar+se
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > > >Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> > > > Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2014 2:19 PM
> > > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > > Subject: slight antedating: "million-dollar wound"
> > > >=3D20
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > >---------------
> > > > --------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > > Subject:      slight antedating: "million-dollar wound"
> > > >
> > > >--------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > > >--
> > > > --------
> > > >=3D20
> > > > OED: Feb., 1945.
> > > >=3D20
> > > > 1944 in _Augusta [Ga.] Chronicle_  (Jan. 1, 1945) 1: WITH AMERICAN
> > > >TROOPS IN BELGIUM... "It's nothing much. Just a hunka shrapnel. We
> > > >call  that the million-dollar wound up here. It doesn't kill you,
> > but
> > > >it gets  you out of the foxholes for a bit."
> > > >=3D20
> > > > JL
> > > >=3D20
> > > > --
> > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > > >truth."
> > > >=3D20
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> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
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-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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