[Ads-l] Emerson on the road to the "Paddy wagon"

[Stephen Goranson]

As already observed, "paddy wagon," now usually associated with police vehicles, was formerly in many texts associated with wheelbarrows. And Emerson may have played a role in the term's history with his 1850 (c.1849) essay (Representative Men: Seven Lectures. Uses of Great Men. Page 35): "Generous and handsome,' he says, 'is your hero; but look at yonder poor Paddy, whose country is his wheelbarrow; ...."

Why did Emerson write that?

In the Journals and Miscellaneous Notebooks of Ralph Waldo Emerson (W.H. Gilman et al. eds., Harvard U. P.)  are two earlier related texts.
Vol. 4 (1964) page 351 [Journal A, 116. Concord 3 December 1834]: "The poor Irishman [--] a wheelbarrow is his country[.]"
Vol. 5 (1965) page 228 {Journal B, 280. 1836]: "The poor Irishman, a wheelbarrow is his country."

Comments welcome.

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/





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