[Ads-l] "putting [someone] 'hep to the good thing''' 1902 (an antedating? my 1903)

Sun Feb 2 20:38:09 UTC 2020

You're welcome, Stephen!

BTW, it turns out that, if I had simply continued to read, I would also
have found
"We the Cats Shall _Hep You_"
and
"We the Cats Shall _Help Ya_"
supplied as the title of this song.

Youneverknow.

On Sun, Feb 2, 2020 at 6:00 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:

> Thank you Wilson! I like your reference:
> "Of further interest is the title of the Cab Calloway tune,
> "We the Cats Shall _Help_ You"
> Or should that be,
> "We the Cats Shall _Hep_ Ya"
>
> Thank you Gerald! I've requested a copy of the article in which you got
> there first.
> I may have more to say after further reading. But for now:
>
> Some sources posit a Joe Hepp. I do not doubt that a US 19th-century
> person named Joe Hepp existed (one such advertised in a newspaper for
> laborers), but find no reason to connect him with the origin. In fact, if
> the following can be credited, the Joe connection came after. (Maybe like
> GI Joe came after GI.)
> 1906 (Mar 25) Kansas City Star, MO [AHN] p14/3 '...parlance of the
> circus...the manager [[is called]] "Joe Hep," "wise guy," "brass collar, or
> "big chief." "Joe Hep" comes from the expression "I am hep to you."'
>
> As to a hypothetical boy scout saying a hypothetical sentence, I first
> nitpick by saying there were no US Boy Scouts in 1902. That minor
> observation, though, does flag anachronism. I might not (typically, except
> now) say "After the hurricane, cousins Sue and Sally came on down along in
> here and hept to rebuild." But one of my maternal NC grandparents might
> have done; my paternal grandparents, born in Sweden, probably not.
> I am proposing a transition in usage, for some time, for some speakers.
> Other examples may follow.
>
> Thanks,
> Stephen Goranson
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Andy
> Bach <afbach at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Friday, January 31, 2020 1:00 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "putting [someone] 'hep to the good thing''' 1902 (an
> antedating? my 1903)
>
> '"Get hept" to the vaudeville habit.' Augusta Chronicle, GA, March 21,
> 1909, 10/2. [N-s.com]
> "Hold this note long enough and get hept to the real lay of things....This
> is nuf sed." San Francisco Call, April 16, 1911, 85/2 [Chronicling America]
> The understanding that Fessenden had was that he was to get $800 of the
> plunder for putting the man of mines "hep to the good thing."
>
> To me, these don't seem to be using it as a synonym of "help" or "helped"
> but more "put in the know[ledge] of". I guess "helped to make aware of",
> but I don't imagine anybody saying "the boy scout hep the old lady across
> the street" in the same sense as "the boy scout hep the old lady to a good
> thing in the 3rd at the Aqueduct."
>
> On Fri, Jan 31, 2020 at 5:42 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > I suggest that "hep," in the sense in the 1902 text below, and also
> > "hept," may have originated from US dialect pronunciation of "help" and
> > "helped." That help and hep are equivalent in, say, "let me hep you with
> > that" needs no detailed argument (or see DARE for examples). Here are a
> few
> > uses that may help (or get you hep to) the proposal.
> >
> > "Michael Hessheimer of Lincoln, Neb., had been sick over three years, but
> > six bottles of Electric Bitters put him helped thousands....Only 50c at
> > druggists." Concord Daily Tribune, NC, Oct. 17, 1912, 2/3.
> [Newspapers.com]
> >
> > '"Get hept" to the vaudeville habit.' Augusta Chronicle, GA, March 21,
> > 1909, 10/2. [N-s.com]
> >
> > "Hold this note long enough and get hept to the real lay of
> things....This
> > is nuf sed." San Francisco Call, April 16, 1911, 85/2 [Chronicling
> America]
> >
> > Stephen
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2020 8:13 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: [ADS-L] "putting [someone] 'hep to the good thing''' 1902 (an
> > antedating? my 1903)
> >
> > In a race track scheme story with "slang." Open access, so I'll type only
> > a little. Here, "man of mines" is a long-shot bettor rich from lead and
> > zinc mining.
> >
> > The Republic, St. Louis, MO, Friday, January 3, 1902 [corrected date],
> > page 6, col. 2. [1]
> >
> > <start>
> > The understanding that Fessenden had was that he was to get $800 of the
> > plunder for putting the man of mines "hep to the good thing."
> > <end>
> >
> > Stephen Goranson
> > http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> >
> > [1]
> >
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__chroniclingamerica.loc.gov_lccn_sn84020274_1902-2D01-2D03_ed-2D1_seq-2D6_-23date1-3D1902-26index-3D0-26rows-3D20-26searchType-3Dadvanced-26language-3D-26sequence-3D0-26words-3Dgood-2Bhep-26proxdistance-3D5-26date2-3D12-252F31-252F1902-26ortext-3D-26proxtext-3D-26phrasetext-3Dhep-2Bto-2Bthe-2Bgood-26andtext-3D-26dateFilterType-3Drange-26page-3D1&d=DwIFAw&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=uUVa-8oDL2EzfbuMuowoUadHHcJ7pjul6iFkS5Pd--8&m=ULwa13MBP8fH4gKiwLWe3rkYDrNK0zyw0_XWUigios0&s=ZXiGjJsB6-a9LGuPhgRd8BufsGDsaVcy5ag3AObIrKo&e=
> >
> > PS. A (new?) etymological proposal may follow, but now mere reporting.
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
> --
>
> a
>
> Andy Bach,
> afbach at gmail.com
> 608 658-1890 cell
> 608 261-5738 wk
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-- 
-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

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