Antedating of Jesus H. Christ

[Baker, John]

It sounds implausible to me. Is there any way of determining whether a Jesus Christ ever was appointed superintendent of schools for the county?


John Baker


> On Jul 26, 2014, at 7:51 PM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> 1885 _Kansas City Star_ (Apr. 29) 1: Every Man to His Trade...Capt. Jesus
> H. Christ, of Durango, has been appointed superintendent of schools of La
> Plata county, vice, Prof. Fox, deceased.
> 
> Jokes on the names of biblical characters then follow, but this doesn't
> seem to be a joke.
> 
> Anyway, it's another '85 JHC.
> 
> JL
> 
> 
> On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 6:55 PM, 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:      Re: Antedating of Jesus H. Christ
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> A quick search of Newspapers.com seems to show "Jesus H. Christ" occurring
>> =
>> in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Aug. 30, 1871, and Weekly Arizona Miner, July
>> 3=
>> 0, 1880.
>> 
>> Fred Shapiro
>> 
>> 
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>> Baker,=
>> John [JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM]
>> Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2014 6:41 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Antedating of Jesus H. Christ
>> 
>> HDAS has "Jesus H. Christ" to 1892, and Fred Shapiro has antedated it to
>> 18=
>> 87 - 1888.  Here is a further antedating, to 1885.  The item below was
>> pick=
>> ed up by a number of newspapers, of which the earliest I have is from the
>> G=
>> alveston Daily News, Jan. 5, 1885, p. 9.  It cites as its source the
>> Brazos=
>> Pilot, which I do not have.  This is via Newspaper Archive.
>> 
>> "The names of Jesus and Christ sound very sacred to English-speaking
>> people=
>> , but among the Spanish both are common names--given and surnames.  At
>> Lare=
>> do, the other day, Jesus H. Christ was registered at one of the hotels.
>> We=
>> remember noting a few years ago that a Mexican named Jesus Christ had
>> been=
>> hung for horse-stealing.  Truly, there is nothing in a name."
>> 
>> The writer was under the impression that this was just an example of
>> Spanis=
>> h names, but that seems unlikely to me, and of course the writer himself
>> ha=
>> d no direct knowledge of the matter.  Note that the item's use here and in
>> =
>> other newspapers implies that the phrase was not yet common even in oral
>> us=
>> e.
>> 
>> 
>> John Baker
>> 
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
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>> 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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