[Ads-l] kibosh: evidence it referred to a whip

[Stephen Goranson]

Doug Wilson wrote:

Here is the stanza in question, as written:

There is one little dodge I am thinking,
That would put your profession all to smash.
It would put on the kibosh like winking,
That is if they was to introduce the lash.

Here is my interpretation or rewording:

There is one little trick, I think,
That would completely ruin your profession.
It would put the kibosh/stopper [on your profession] in an instant,
That is, if they were to introduce whipping.

I believe "kibosh" here has the same meaning as "kibosh" in (say) 2018:
"check" or "stop" (noun, NOT defined as a [type of] whip or other
concrete object).

I, Stephen Goranson, reply:


That you, Doug, can read the poem with a modern sense does not mean that circa 1830 readers did. (Retrojection; anachronism.) The development from literal to figurative is typical. The word, in this Cockney spelling, was rather new--or do you know pre-1830 uses?)--so the poet chose to define it, for contemporaries, as a lash. (All kiboshes are lashes; not all lashes are kiboshes.) The punctuation (period after profession; comma after winking) guides us to link verse three and verse four. Had the poet wished to define kibosh differently, the poet could have done. How you can insist the kibosh is "NOT defined" as the lash is baffling. Plus, the objection lacks an alternate etymology. Our book--overpriced though it may be--gives strong evidence for the etymology.


Stephen

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