antedating 'pad' = "lodging place"

[Joel S. Berson]

Jon, if you want to exclude this as not "pad, n2," 1.c, "lodging
place," perhaps you can try:

"pad, n.2.," 1.a, "A flattened bundle, mattress, or cushion of firm
but yielding material (originally straw) on which a person may lie or
sit."  The singular "their pad" being used in the "Rollicking Irish
Song" instead of "their pads" in order to "rhyme" with "squad."

Joel

At 6/1/2014 11:36 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

>Like, OED has this from 1914, man.  But this crazy example I can't dig any
>other way:
>
>1864 _The Arkansas Traveler's Songster_ (N.Y.: Dick & Fitzgerald) 54:
>Lodgings in Pat Magaradie's   A Rollicking Irish Song   Sung by Fred May
>... They brought in every night, to their pad,/ The boys just come o'er to
>the shearing;/ Be the hokey! and that was the squad/ That could give the
>victuals a tearing!
>
>JL
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org