[Ads-l] Polly want a cracker?

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Poll parrot" was the normal unisex nominal used by my NYC grandparents as
well, at least for the domesticated talking kind. My wife agrees that a
wild parrot would not be a likely referent for "poll parrot."

OED: 1768 (with "Poll" as a psittacine Christian name from 1600).

JL



On Wed, Mar 13, 2019 at 5:12 PM Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> > a Poll Parrot
>
> The usual term for _a parrot_ amongst the colored people of my day. My
> boojie analysis of it as a "mistake" based on a mispronunciation of "Polly
> Parrot" clearly was an error.
>
> Youneverknow.
>
> On Sun, Mar 10, 2019 at 10:02 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > A key parrot phrase. The original "cracker" seems to have been a sailor's
> > "hard cracker" (hardtack biscuit), and the phrase is evidently an
> > Americanism:
> >
> > 1849 _Knickerbocker_ (Dec.) 544: For sale, a Poll Parrot, cheap. He says
> a
> > remarkable variety of words and phrases, cries 'Fire! fire!' and 'You
> > rascal!' and 'Polly want a cracker;' and would not be parted with, but,
> > having been brought up with a sea-captain he is profane, and swears too
> > much for the subscriber, being a pious man, and having children in the
> > family, to whom his example is bad.
> >
> > 1852 [L. Lermont] _Aunt Patty's Mirror_ (Auburn, N.Y.:  Alden,
> Beardsley, &
> > Co.) 144  Common parrots...never in their education get beyond "Poll
> wants
> > a cracker!" and "Poll wants to get out!"
> >
> > 1855 _Daily Cleveland [O.] Herald (Sept. 6) 1:  With no more apparent
> > unction than a parrot would repeat "pretty Polly want a cracker."
> >
> > 1858_Weekly Ottumwa [Ia.]  Courier_  (March 18) 3: Polly want a cracker?
> >
> > 1858 _Weekly Hawk-Eye_ (Burlington, Ia.) (Aug. 31) 3: Polly wants a
> > cracker!
> >
> > 1864 _Urbana [O.] Union_ (Dec. 7) 1: The parrot turned her head, and
> > looking at me sharply, said rapidly: ... "Pretty Poll, pretty Poll, poor
> > Poll, Polly wants a cracker!"
> >
> > 1866 _New-Orleans Times_  (May 22) (Suppl.) 2: We give the following
> advice
> > to our contributors: "P.Q."-- Mind your p's and q's. ... "R.G." [i.e.,
> > "rotgut"] -- Not any more, thank you. ... Polly--Polly want a cracker?
> >
> > 1888 _Aberdeen [Scot.] Weekly Journal_ (Apr. 21) [unp.]: Dealer...(to
> > parrot): "Polly want a cracker?" Polly (solemnly)--Let her go,
> Gallegher."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "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
> >
>
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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