[Ads-l] Earliest Use of "Cook the Books"

Mon Feb 4 08:11:22 UTC 2019

"Cook up" is applied to "books" in this 1853 example:

----
Liverpool Mercury, Sep. 30, 1853, p. 15, col. 4
With reference to the assistance of weighers and porters being required to
cook up the books, we bling the base assertion in their teeth; and beg to
whisper in their ears taht surely those who dwell in glass houses should
not be the first to cast stones, therefore the less they say about "cooking
up" books, &c., the better.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28013086/cook_up_books/
----

This refers to a claim made in an earlier article in the same newspaper
(with "accounts" instead of "books"):

----
Liverpool Mercury, Sep. 23, 1853, p. 12, col. 4
Were it not for the assistance rendered those men by the weighers and
porters on the quays in instructing them, and the way in which their
accounts have been "cooked" up, the business of those docks in which the
thing is in operation would have been brought to a complete standstill.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28013081/cook_up_accounts/
----

The earliest examples I've found for "cook (the) books" without the "up"
come from 1857:

----
The Standard (London), Jan. 10, 1857, p. 4, col. 5
As I am ignorant of the facts discovered against the assistant clerk, save
as to his cooking certain books and his dealing with the guardians' cheques
during the past nine months, i.e., subsequent to my last audit account to
Lady-day, 1856, to which date alone have I seen the union accounts, I do
not see that at present at least I am called upon for any observation on
that part of the case.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28013203/cook_the_books/
----
The Morning Post (London), May 21, 1857, p. 2, col. 5
A second letter from this person appears in last night's papers. It is
intended as a reply to the charge of "cooking the books," preferred against
James Sadleir by the Master of the Rolls... James Sadleir denies that he
acted as his brother John wished, and maintains that he did not alter "one
figure" in the accounts.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28013171/cook_the_books/
----

On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 1:19 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Here is the pertinent sense for the verb "cook" in the OED (to provide
> background). The 1751 citation applies "cooked up" to accounts. None
> of the citations for this sense included the word "book" or "books".
>
> cook, v.1
> 3. c. To present in a surreptitiously altered form, for some purpose;
> to manipulate, ‘doctor’, falsify, tamper with. colloq.
>
> 1636   Earl of Strafford Let. 25 July (1739) II. 16   The Proof was
> once clear, however they have cook'd it since.
>
> 1751   T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle IV. cvi. 227   Some falsified
> printed accounts, artfully cooked up, on purpose to mislead and
> deceive.
>
> 1848   J. S. Mill Princ. Polit. Econ. i. ix. §2   These accounts, even
> if cooked, still exercise some check.
>
> 1872   J. A. H. Murray in Complaynt Scotl. Introd. p. cxvii   The
> editor was attacked by..Pinkerton, for not printing the text ‘as a
> classic’, i.e. cooking the spelling, &c., as he himself would have
> done.
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 4, 2019 at 12:01 AM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Not knowing how far back you've found it already, I don't know whether
> these are helpful.
> >
> > Phrases.org.uk has an example of the word, "to cook," in the sense of
> "present in a surreptitiously altered form," from 1636.
> >
> > https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cook-the-books.html
> >
> > In a quick search, I found "cook the books" in the 1860s and "cook the
> accounts" in the 1840s.
> >
> > The earliest "cook the books" I saw is from the Saturday Review
> (London), July 13, 1861, page 39 (HathiTrust).
> >
> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112078712939;view=1up;seq=57
> >
> > "It is no more than fair for a Dissenting grocer to say that the parson
> of the parish is not a safe savings bank manager, because he may be tempted
> by his zeal for religion to cook the books of all the Wesleyan depositors
> in the district."
> >
> > The expression was well-established enough in 1865 that it appeared in a
> German-language linguistics book, Dr. Max Mueller's Bau-wau-Theorie und der
> Ursprung der Sprache, Leipzig, Verlag von Bernhard Schlicke, 1865, page
> 148. Hathitrust.
> > https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hx5925;view=1up;seq=160
> >
> > ". . . to cook the books, d. i. die Buecher falsch fuehren . . . ."
> >
> >
> > The earliest "cook the accounts" I found is from 1849.
> > Hampshire Telegraph and Naval Chronicle (Portsmouth, England), June 16,
> 1849, page 2. (Newspapers.com)
> >
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28010089/hampshire_telegraph_and_naval_chronicle/
> >
> >
> > "The traders and professional men won't pay the tax.  They juggle with
> their consciences; cook their accounts; falsify their returns, and leave
> the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the lurch."
> >
> >
> >
> > ------ Original Message ------
> > From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> > To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
> > Sent: 2/3/2019 2:48:14 PM
> > Subject: Earliest Use of "Cook the Books"
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject: Earliest Use of "Cook the Books"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I am trying to push back the use of the phrase "cook the books" (to
> falsify=
> > accounting records in order to conceal actual financial activities or
> cond=
> > ition of a business) as far as I can. Any suggestions of early citations
> w=
> > ould be welcome.
> >
>

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