[Ads-l] shenanegin antedated (?) to 1854

Mon Jul 6 11:41:31 UTC 2015

Ignore that.

1856, in _Calif. Historical Society Qly._  ix (1930) 62: Tryed to play
chinanigan but couldn't make it rip.

1859, in L. R. Hafen & A. W. Hafen _Reports from Colo._ [Glendale, Calif.:
A. H. Clarke. 1961] 195: They are...adepts at wire-working, or
"shenanaging," as they...call it out here.

1862, in S. L. Clemens _Letters of Mark Twain_ [ N.Y.: Harper, 1917] I 202:
Consider them all guily...(of "shenanigan") until they are proved innocent.

1870 _Putnam's Mo._ (Mar.)  298: I'd back her against the field, even
weights and no sheenanigan for money.

All spelling sic.

JL

On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 7:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hitherto secret:
>
> 1856, in _Calif. Historical Society Qly._  ix (1930) 62: Tryed to play
> chinanigan but couldn't make it rip.
>
> 1859, in Hafen & Hafen _Reports from Colo._ 195: They are...adepts at
> wire-working, or "shenanaging,"
>
> I.e., tried to pull a fast one but couldn't make it fly.
>
> JL
>
> On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 2:12 AM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>
> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: shenanegin antedated (?) to 1854
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> No antedatings, but a few citations suggesting the word is from miners
>> in California. Also, a couple of toponyms, which might be where the
>> original shenanigan happened, or which might be named after the word was
>> in currency. Last, a person "commonly called Shenanigan."
>>
>> 1. http://bit.ly/1S1NGHC
>> Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually
>> Regarded ...
>> By John Russell Bartlett
>> Google dated: 1877
>> Lists "shenanigan" as a word in California and Yale College
>>
>> 2. http://bit.ly/1S1NUyz
>> Americanisms: The English of the New World
>> By Maximilian Schele de Vere
>> Google dated: 1872
>> Lists "shenannigan" as "probably a purely fictitious word ... frequently
>> heard in the South and the West, and denoting groundless bragging for
>> the purpose of getting the better of another."
>>
>> 3. http://bit.ly/1ffN852
>> Camp and Cabin: Sketches of Life and Travel in the West
>> Rossiter Worthington Raymond
>> Googled dated: 1880
>> ("Shenannigan" is the miner's term for humbug.)
>>
>> 4. http://bit.ly/1Tfmp72
>> The War of the Rebellion: Formal reports, both Union and Confederate, of
>> the ....
>> United States. War Dept, Robert Nicholson Scott
>> Google dated: 1971
>> "May 15, 1864, Sergeant Byrnes with a detachment of four men returned to
>> camp from Shinanigan Mountain, having scouted on Kushka's for five days
>> without discovering any traces of the Indians.... between Bear River and
>> the North Fork of Mattole."
>>
>> 5. http://bit.ly/1KJoNA5
>> Blog comment by Laura Cooskey
>> 19 July 2011
>> Buck Miner's "The Origin of Mattole" has a story on p. 103 about the
>> name of Bunnel Prairie Creek. He says Mr. Bunnel (no first name) was the
>> blacksmith in a location between Upper Mattole and Honeydew who took in
>> the orphaned survivor of the Squaw Creek massacre, who then, via Mike
>> Schallard of Shenanigan Ridge, ended up in Bear River area adopted by
>> the Morrison family.
>>
>> 6. http://bit.ly/1IDPPc7
>> Shenanigan Campground, perhaps in Yuba County, CA
>>
>> 7. http://bit.ly/1H2mmE9
>> Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zool?ogy at Harvard College, Volume 6
>> Front Cover
>> Harvard University. Museum of Comparative Zoology
>> Google dated: 1880
>> Immediate opposite Spanish Dry Diggings, on the other side of the river,
>> at a place known as Shenanigan Hill, ....
>>
>> 8. http://bit.ly/1HGQdpt
>> Annual Report
>> U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey
>> Google dated: 1911
>> Chaparral Mountain (Humboldt County, Cal. A. F. R., 1871).--On what is
>> called the Shenanigan Hill, a peak of the Punta Gorda Ridge.
>>
>> 9. http://bit.ly/1giFZ4c
>> Congressional Series of United States Public Documents, Volume 2027
>> U.S. Government Printing Office
>> Google dated: 1882
>> I seized from the man commonly called Shenanigan, on barrel of mash, ....
>>
>>
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>>
>> Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/home
>> > ADSGarson O'Toole <mailto:adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> > July 5, 2015 at 12:56 PM
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster: ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject: Re: shenanegin antedated (?) to 1854
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > Here is another example of "shenanigan" from 1855. This is later than
>> > Stephen's cite and the first OED cite, but it might still be useful.
>> >
>> > Date: September 1855
>> > Journal: Yankee-Notions
>> > Volume 4, number 9
>> > Article: The Magician and the Miner
>> > Quote Page 280
>> > Publisher: T. W. Strong, New York
>> >
>> > [Begin excerpt]
>> > An individual who had attended several evenings and witnessed the
>> > "experiment," suspected, in the classic language of the times, that
>> > there was something of "shenanigan" in it. He thought the probability
>> > was, that the individual in the pit who fired the pistol was
>> > invariably an accomplice, dressed for the nonce in miner's clothes;
>> > and as a true, independent, self-reliant Californian, he thought he
>> > would assume the responsibility of testing and adjusting matters for
>> > his own satisfaction, as well as for the good of the community
>> > generally.
>> > [End excerpt]
>> >
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
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> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

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