[Ads-l] Antedating (?) Joe Soap

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

> Peter Morris wrote
>> World Wide Words has 1943 as thye earliest citation.
>>
>> http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-joe2.htm
>>
>> Here's one that appears to be from 1934.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/jlwhwuk
>>
>> Disclaimers about Google dating apply, but it appears right in this case.
>> Searching 1934 in the text shows a date for publication.
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/hqsuty8

Garson O'Toole wrote:
> Below is some extracted text from your citation to show the context.
>
> Year: 1934
> Periodical: Blackwood's Magazine
> Volume 236
> Quote Page 294
> Database: Google Books snippet may be inaccurate
>
> [Begin extracted text]
> ... these travellers is that of the
> complete sceptic with a dash
> of Pharisee. Several times he
> has expressed a wish that
> "they was all dead, comin'
> here and kicking up chouse
> and corruption all over the
> auction. I ain't no Joe Soap
> to go a-believin' of all their
> yarns.” 'Chouse ' nearly beat
> me, but I discovered it to ...
> [End extracted text]

Below is some more extracted text that seems to be commenting on the
terms used in the first excerpt: "Corruption" and "Joe Soap". There is
some uncertainty expressed about "Joe Soap", but this might be
intended as humorous.

Quote Page 294

[More extracted text]
Corruption is Nowallese for commotion. Who Joe Soap was I have never
discovered. Dr Brewer seems to have overlooked him; and he doesn't
appear in Wheeler's Noted Names of Fiction. But presumably a soft sort
of 294 [Sept. Our Village ...
[End extracted text]

Garson

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