[Ads-l] "Bullshit" ca1879

Thu Aug 17 22:29:38 UTC 2017

Great work, Ben.

And we see 1879 exx. of "B.S." as well.  Cf. spoken "G.D.," "S.O.B.,"
"M.F." (And obsolete "D.F." 'damned fool.')

If "bull shit" had been a neologism, I'd expect the typesetters to have
employed "Bull S---" rather than letter-expurgating both words, printable
"bull" being contaminated by unprintable "shit."

JL

On Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 4:10 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
wrote:

> So much for the idea that T. S. Eliot was the coiner of the word
> "bullshit" ...
>
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben
> Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2017 12:46 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: "Bullshit" ca1879
>
> By searching on Jack's compatriot Slap Jack Bill, I was able to find this
> from 1879.
>
> ---
> Daily Gazette (Las Vegas, N.M.), Sep. 12, 1879, p. 1, col. 3
> Special Agent Adams came in from Denver yesterday and last night arrested
> B-- S-- Jack, Slap Jack Bill, both noted characters, and a man named Webb
> at a saloon on the east side on a charge of robbing the coach. The evidence
> is strong.
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.
> newspapers.com_image_-3Fspot-3D13156773&d=DwIBaQ&c=
> cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=
> K9AIG7M9g2v3u87astlBAGB3tCsQPgwKN9Ry772LdAQ&s=kEZau_x66HNWEXBY-
> K0UM1ocYEiFZTTYTyaDKgM6-NU&e=
> ---
>
> The Gazette's coverage of the arrest appeared in some other newspapers,
> with the nickname similarly expurgated.
>
> ---
> Weekly Republican (Phoenix, Ariz.), Sep. 24, 1879, p. 4, col. 1
> The men bearing the euphonious titles of B S Jack and Slap Jack Bill, the
> pride of the Pan Handle, are gamblers who came from Otero some weeks ago.
> They are originally from Texas and are classed as tough citizens.
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.
> newspapers.com_image_175607080_&d=DwIBaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=
> fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=
> K9AIG7M9g2v3u87astlBAGB3tCsQPgwKN9Ry772LdAQ&s=wn7_Di-qZA-44-
> NDr9PnQIio4zpjohWrdRuBw59B8Lg&e=
> ---
> Arizona Sentinel (Yuma, Ariz.) Sep. 27, 1879, p. 2, col. 2
> The Las Vegas Gazette gives an account of the capture of three mail robbers
> called Webb, B.S. Jack and Slap Jack Bill. They have been taken to Santa Fe
> for trial.
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.
> newspapers.com_image_42269032_&d=DwIBaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=
> fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=
> K9AIG7M9g2v3u87astlBAGB3tCsQPgwKN9Ry772LdAQ&s=
> yw7075TDXpO3uqLEhm8Z6wQLhjfs6VVlSxCjKTGmQBs&e=
> ---
>
> More from the Gazette in 1880:
>
> ---
> Daily Gazette (Las Vegas, N.M.), Feb. 10, 1880, p. 4, col. 2
> The mail robbers have been indicted and arraigned and all entered pleas of
> not guilty. They are John Pierce, alias B.S. Jack, William Nicholson alias
> Slap Jack Bill, Frank Cady and Jordan Webb.
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.
> newspapers.com_image_174603452_&d=DwIBaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=
> fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=
> K9AIG7M9g2v3u87astlBAGB3tCsQPgwKN9Ry772LdAQ&s=gR_
> jG7p3lyd2BXgW8uSFuvfuGkrI5GJgICpSHY3-B_M&e=
> ---
>
> In 1881, the Las Vegas Daily Optic gave his name as "Bull Shank Jack" and
> several other papers followed suit.
>
> ---
> The Times (Philadelphia, Pa.), May 2, 1881, p. 4, col. 2
> "Slap Jack Bill," "Fly Speck Sam" and "Bull Shank Jack" all came to Las
> Vegas about the time the railroad got here, and were soon run in the quay
> on the charge of train and coach robbery.
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.
> newspapers.com_image_53107273_&d=DwIBaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=
> fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=
> K9AIG7M9g2v3u87astlBAGB3tCsQPgwKN9Ry772LdAQ&s=
> 1xoATeTjhUgZsbOL92QzVpllizw2KcwZJZcl-XMpsdI&e=
> ---
>
> (Can't find the original version of this in the Optic -- the OCR for it on
> NewspaperArchive is pretty terrible.)
>
> --bgz
>
>
> On Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 11:36 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 1:41 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> HDAS has a bracketed ref. to one "Bull Dung Billy" back in the Old West.
> >>
> >> Gary L. Roberts, however, author of the documented bio _Doc Holliday:
> the
> >> Life and Legend_ (N.Y.: Wiley, 2006), p. 111, cites a John "Bullshit
> Jack"
> >> Pierce as a stage-robber near Las Vegas, N.M., around 1880.
> >>
> >> Though buried among paragraph citations, Roberts seems to cite the _Las
> >> Vegas Daily Optic_, July 21, 1881.
> >>
> >
> > Following up on this long-forgotten thread... the Las Vegas Daily Optic
> > for 1881 is now available on NewspaperArchive, so I checked this out.
> > Roberts was actually citing the July 20, 1881 issue, but not about
> > "Bullshit Jack," unfortunately. Roberts quotes the Optic about how Doc
> > Holliday "crept through one of the many legal loop-holes that
> characterized
> > Hoodoo Brown's judicial dispensation." "Bullshit Jack" (or rather "Bull
> > Shit Jack") happens to appear in the same paragraph in the Doc Holliday
> > bio, but is nowhere to be seen in the Optic.
> >
> > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__
> newspaperarchive.com_ben-2Dzimmer-2Dcrime-2Dclipping-
> 2Djul-2D20-2D1881-2D364704_&d=DwIBaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-
> poQ&r=fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=
> K9AIG7M9g2v3u87astlBAGB3tCsQPgwKN9Ry772LdAQ&s=ddvBdPBSDDZxvexMTTlu5hjW2n_
> MuiELxN_mjVmy_ds&e=
> >
> > So the hunt continues for early newspaper appearances of "bullshit."
> > Nothing so far beats Bonnie Taylor-Blake's discovery of "bullshit" from
> the
> > (Topeka, Kan.) Daily Commonwealth, Aug. 31, 1886, where it appears as a
> > possibly intentional typo for "ballast." More here:
> >
> > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__
> stronglang.wordpress.com_2015_01_02_when-2Dshit-2Dhits-
> 2Dthe-2Dnewspapers_&d=DwIBaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=
> fA3T4uAm2gJS6K8eux_g80UR5n-rtd2GpmRMO1hHScg&m=
> K9AIG7M9g2v3u87astlBAGB3tCsQPgwKN9Ry772LdAQ&s=
> WhnIbVppYtHxxBoOZBGkmX8akuFZK2HBE-RGQET1iGA&e=
> >
> > --bgz
> >
> >
>
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> K9AIG7M9g2v3u87astlBAGB3tCsQPgwKN9Ry772LdAQ&s=
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