Dating of "a horse apiece"

[Dan Goncharoff]

Doesn't the last usage have a more specific meaning of "all square", since
the two teams won one game each, and by the same score?

DanG


On Fri, Jan 31, 2014 at 8:03 AM, Hugo <hugovk at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Hugo <hugovk at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Dating of "a horse apiece"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A philhippic phrase appropriate for this new Chinese year, local to
> parts of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, meaning "it doesn't
> matter", "it's all the same", "six of one, half of dozen of t'other".
>
> It's not in the OED. I'm not sure what DARE has now, but in 2000 it had
> 1980.
>
> The phrase dates at least from the late 19th century, as found in the
> St. Paul (Minnesota) Daily Globe (March 27, 1893):
>
> [Begin]
> "What did Emperor William say to you when you approached him, Kelly?"
> asked McKenna.
>
> "He didn't say a word until I approached him," answered Kelly. "Then
> he told me to keep quiet because the president of France was listening
> to our conversation. I didn't care a d--m for the president of France,
> so I said to William: 'He can't hurt me. Let him listen. It's a horse
> apiece, for I'm the King of China.' When I saw the Prince of Wales I
> asked him for a chew of tobacco, and kicked because it wasn't the
> brand I was used to chewing. He tried to get back at me by saying no
> man of my nationality and name could talk back to a peer of the realm.
> I said to him: 'Come off de perch, you want do see?'
> [End]
>
> For some background, the article says 'Workhouse' Kelly was a nearly
> 60-year-old Irishman who had lived in St. Paul for the previous 20
> years, spending 90 days to six months of each year in the workhouse.
> He had been a sailor in the US navy in the 1850s and was "full of
> yarns".
>
> The other two uses I found in Chronicling America are both from the
> Rock Island (Illinois) Argus. First from May 31, 1899 describing two
> baseball teams as appearing equal before a match:
>
> [Begin]
> It's a horse apiece. The shake-off occurs today.
> [End]
>
> Second from April 18, 1904, also describing two baseball teams:
>
> [Begin]
> It's a horse apiece now with the Rock Island and Davenport on the
> ante-season baseball games. Rock Island won yesterday afternoon's
> exhibition game at Twelfth street park 4 to 3, the same score by which
> Davenport defeated the local aggregation on the grounds across the
> river a week previous.
> [End]
>
>
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn90059522/1893-03-27/ed-1/seq-3/#date1=1836&index=2&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=apiece+horse+It&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=it%27s+a+horse+apiece&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
>
>
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92053934/1899-05-31/ed-1/seq-7/#date1=1836&index=0&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=apiece+horse+It&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=it%27s+a+horse+apiece&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
>
>
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn92053934/1904-04-18/ed-1/seq-7/#date1=1836&index=1&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=apiece+horse+It&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=it%27s+a+horse+apiece&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1
>
> Hugo
>
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