[Ads-l] Antedating (?) Joe Soap

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is an instance in England of "Joe Soap" in 1878 employed as a
pseudonym or handle for a person whose real name was unknown.

Date: September 21, 1878
Newspaper: The Leeds Times
Newspaper Location: West Yorkshire, England
Article: Local & District: Huddersfield
Quote Page 5, Column 3
Database: britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

[Begin excerpt]
A man whose real name is unknown, but who is known in the district as
"Joe Soap," had on Tuesday evening crossed a field near Meltham, to
get to Bingley Quarry, but in the dusk, mistaking his position, he
fell into the quarry, and was killed.
[End excerpt]

Garson


On Sun, Sep 4, 2016 at 2:44 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> The revue "Oh, What a Lovely War!" (1963) included improvised songs sung by
> British troops in WW1. And, supposedly, only such songs.
>
> One of these is "Forward, Joe Soap's Army," easily findable online.  To the
> obvious hymn tune.
>
> I can't find an earlier appearance of the song.  (Decades ago I was able to
> find the sources of - IIRC - every other song in the show.)
>
> JL
>
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 4, 2016 at 12:28 PM, Michael Quinion <
> michael.quinion at worldwidewords.org> wrote:
>
>> On 04/09/2016 16:09, Peter Morris wrote:
>>
>> "Joe Soap"
>>> 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
>>>
>>
>> Thank you. Another piece that now needs updating! I do wonder about a
>> possible derivation of /Joe Soap/ from /no soap/. My piece mentions a
>> possible connection with /dope/.
>>
>> --
>> Michael Quinion, World Wide Words
>> http://www.worldwidewords.org
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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