[Ads-l] Antedating of Skedaddle (1859)

[Ben Zimmer]

Dave Wilton found the very same line in the Jan. 12, 1860 issue of The
(Wellsboro, Penn.) Agitator, which evidently just reprinted the story
from the previous month's Pittsburgh Post.

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2007-March/068364.html
http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/skedaddle/

On Sun, Apr 17, 2016 at 10:11 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
>
> "Skedaddle" became popular with and is strongly associated with the Civil War;
> the OED says it is "Orig. U.S. military slang, introduced during the Civil War of
> 1861-5."  The earliest OED example is from 1861, although M-W says it dates
> from 1860.  Here is an example from the Pittsburgh Daily Post, Dec. 12, 1859
> (Newspapers.com), https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4516920/pittsburgh_daily_post/,
> in which a Hoosier relates a story in which several men at a bar have
> embarrassed themselves; the story ends with the line, "You'd oughter seen
> that gang skedaddle."

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