Antedating of Jesus H. Christ

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Mon Jul 28 04:11:28 UTC 2014


It does all seem to fit together, does it not?  Restores your faith in Dr. Brown and the flux capacitor…

LH

On Jul 27, 2014, at 11:05 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:

> And was he appointed upon the death if his predecessor Michael J Fox?
> On Jul 27, 2014 7:53 PM, "Baker, John" <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JBAKER at STRADLEY.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: Antedating of Jesus H. Christ
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> It sounds implausible to me. Is there any way of determining whether a
>> Jesu=
>> s 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:
>>> =20
>>> 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.
>>> =20
>>> Jokes on the names of biblical characters then follow, but this doesn't
>>> seem to be a joke.
>>> =20
>>> Anyway, it's another '85 JHC.
>>> =20
>>> JL
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> On Sat, Jul 26, 2014 at 6:55 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>> =20
>>>> ---------------------- 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
>>>> =20
>>>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>> -------
>>>> =20
>>>> A quick search of Newspapers.com seems to show "Jesus H. Christ"
>> occurri=
>> ng
>>>> =3D
>>>> in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Aug. 30, 1871, and Weekly Arizona Miner,
>> Jul=
>> y
>>>> 3=3D
>>>> 0, 1880.
>>>> =20
>>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>> =20
>>>> =20
>>>> ________________________________________
>>>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
>>>> Baker,=3D
>>>> 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
>>>> =20
>>>> HDAS has "Jesus H. Christ" to 1892, and Fred Shapiro has antedated it to
>>>> 18=3D
>>>> 87 - 1888.  Here is a further antedating, to 1885.  The item below was
>>>> pick=3D
>>>> ed up by a number of newspapers, of which the earliest I have is from
>> th=
>> e
>>>> G=3D
>>>> alveston Daily News, Jan. 5, 1885, p. 9.  It cites as its source the
>>>> Brazos=3D
>>>> Pilot, which I do not have.  This is via Newspaper Archive.
>>>> =20
>>>> "The names of Jesus and Christ sound very sacred to English-speaking
>>>> people=3D
>>>> , but among the Spanish both are common names--given and surnames.  At
>>>> Lare=3D
>>>> do, the other day, Jesus H. Christ was registered at one of the hotels.
>>>> We=3D
>>>> remember noting a few years ago that a Mexican named Jesus Christ had
>>>> been=3D
>>>> hung for horse-stealing.  Truly, there is nothing in a name."
>>>> =20
>>>> The writer was under the impression that this was just an example of
>>>> Spanis=3D
>>>> h names, but that seems unlikely to me, and of course the writer himself
>>>> ha=3D
>>>> d no direct knowledge of the matter.  Note that the item's use here and
>> =
>> in
>>>> =3D
>>>> other newspapers implies that the phrase was not yet common even in oral
>>>> us=3D
>>>> e.
>>>> =20
>>>> =20
>>>> John Baker
>>>> =20
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>> =20
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> =20
>>> --=20
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth=
>> ."
>>> =20
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>>> =20
>> 
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
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