[Ads-l] Antedating of "Geek" (Carnival Sense)

[Shapiro, Fred]

geek (OED, 2., 1919)


1912 _Billboard_ 13 July 63 (ProQuest)  (advertisement) Wanted, For Campbell United Shows ... Will furnish swell frame-up for Platform Show; can use good Geek, Colored Performers and Musicians, Door Talkers.


Fred Shapiro



________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2016 10:41 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating geek

I see this earlier in Billboard, July 13, 1912; I'll post full citation when I have time.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Bill Mullins <amcombill at HOTMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2016 9:16 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Antedating geek

Carnival sense.  OED has 25 Oct 1919.

1914 01 14 _New York Clipper_ p 12 col 3

"It may be interesting to the readers of THE NEW YORK CLIPPER to know that Pollitt has disposed of his famous Pelican, and will not have the Incas Mummy on exhibition this year.  Likewise the Frog Boy, the little elephant, the Kokomo Twins, the Circassian Queen, the boa-constrictor and "the Geek" will be placed in the discard, along with a conglomeration of animate and inanimate curiosities which Pollitt has thrust upon a long suffering public during the past decade."

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