[Ads-l] The _third degree_ antedating (?)

[Robin Hamilton]

                    Different text, earlier printing, wrong publication date.

[Apologies, especially to Garson, but I simply couldn't resist beginning with
the above line, which is an inference, and may be wrong.  Reasoning follows.]

Worldcat reads as follows for several of what they allege is the earliest
edition:

Walling, George W. Recollections of a New York Chief of Police, by George W.
Walling; an Official Record of Thirty-Eight Years As Patrolman, Detective,
Captain, Inspector and Chief of the New York Police. Illustrated from Original
Drawings and Photographs; and Historic Supplement of the Denver Police, by A.
Kaufmann. Illustrated. Specially Issued for the Benefit of the Denver Police
Mutual Aid Fund. [Denver], 1890

Crucially, though it doesn't show up in the cites generated from Worldcat, most
of the entries (several, as Worldcat concords various libraries, and thus often
has multiple records of the same edition), carry an additional (c) 1887.

Although not indicated as such on the title page, the "Historic Supplement of
the Denver Police, by A. Kaufmannis"  is [I assume] an addition included to a
Denver reprint of an earlier edition [the first, I presume] printed in New York.

Both texts are available on Hathi, but Garson [1887] is referring to the
original edition, while _Green's Dictionary of Slang_ [1890] is citing the later
reprinting.

However, and here's the kicker, while both texts have the same copyright date of
1887, the New York edition was, if we believe the title page, not actually
issued until the following year, 1888.

[Perhaps someone on the list could confirm this, and it's presumably something
to do with the way in which US -- or specifically New York? -- copyright laws
work, but I think I've come across before texts from this period where the
copyright date inside was a year earlier than the publication date on title
page.  Puzzling and awkward.]

So we are probably looking at at:

                   George Walling, _Recollections_ (1888)

Phew!!!

Robin

> 
>     On 23 October 2016 at 04:15 ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> 
> 
>     Thanks to Wilson Gray, Peter Morris, Robin Hamilton, and Jonathon
>     Green. Here is an instance of "third degree" in the desired sense from
>     a police chief in 1887. Actually, it appears to be the same text with
>     an earlier publication date.
> 
>     Year: 1887
>     Title: Recollections of a New York chief of police
>     Author: George W. Walling.
>     Publisher: New York, Caxton Book Concern, Limited
>     Quote Page 189
>     Database: HathiTrust Full View
> 
>     http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t3bz6351m
>     http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t3bz6351m?urlappend=%3Bseq=197
> 
>     [Begin excerpt]
>     Saying which the "Deacon" disappears through a doorway, only to
>     reappear after a brief absence and hold up his finger. This indicates
>     that the prisoner is going to pass a bad quarter of an hour, or what
>     is known in police slang as "getting the third degree."
>     [End excerpt]
> 
>     Garson
> 
>     On Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 9:42 PM, Robin Hamilton
>     <robin.hamilton3 at virginmedia.com> wrote:
>     > GDoS has the first cite from 1890:
>     >
>     > _____
>     >
>     > 1890 [US] G.W. Walling Recollections 189: This indicates that the
>     > prisoner is
>     > going to pass a bad quarter of an hour, or what is known in police slang
>     > as
>     > ‘getting the third degree.’.
>     >
>     > _____
>     >
>     > George Walling rose to Captain under George W.Matsell, and was
>     > Matsell's blue-eyed boy until they picked different sides in 1857. He
>     > had a rep
>     > as something of a tough customer, but may have picked up on the term (if
>     > not the
>     > activity), "the third degree", from his boss.
>     >
>     > Interesting, maybe, that he describes it as "police slang", suggesting
>     > that it
>     > started life as a term on that side of the counter.
>     >
>     > Whatever, when he says, "third degree", he knows whereof he speaks.
>     >
>     > Robin Hamilton
>     >
>     >>
>     >> On 23 October 2016 at 01:53 Peter Morris
>     >> <peter_morris_1 at BLUEYONDER.CO.UK>
>     >> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> Online Etymology Dictionary dates "third degree" to 1900.
>     >>
>     >> http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=third+degree&allowed_in_frame=0
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> Here's a cite that appears to be from 1898.
>     >>
>     >> http://tinyurl.com/h6sswby
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>     >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>     >>
>     >
>     > ------------------------------------------------------------
>     > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
>     ------------------------------------------------------------
>     The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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