[Ads-l] Cousin Sally, new in OED

[Jonathan Lighter]

If a particular "Sally Ann" is required, permit me to nominate the
well-known breakdown tune of that name.  Unfortunately I find no proof that
it was known before 1861 - though it's simple enough to be far older than
that.

The earliest mention seems to be:

1895_ Knoxville Journal _(Jan. 25) 2:  Alf Taylor does not seem to be
unhappy because he is so soon to leave the halls of congress….He has not
forgotten the old tunes of his boyhood and ‘Sally Ann’ is as fresh on his
mind as yesterday.

Taylor (1848-1931) may have learned the tune just prior to the Civil War.
Rank conjecture, of course, and submitted solely as a curiosity.

There wasn't much journalistic mention of the names of fiddle tunes before
the turn of the century, when "Old Fiddlers' Contests" seem to have become
more popular.

JL

On Mon, Jan 27, 2020 at 5:39 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:

> Yes, of course LH and JL. As I wrote, OED added this entry and explanation
> "reasonably enough."
> What I suggested as a possible though uncertain (and maybe not worth
> mentioning) supplement concerned the choice of (the already well known
> name) Cousin Sally, rather than, say, Cousin Sue, which might parallel
> Uncle Sam more closely.
>
> Btw, the "...chicken with its head cut off" item can be antedated multiple
> times.
>
> SG
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2020 4:13 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] Cousin Sally, new in OED
>
> Also "Cousin Sally Ann." See HDAS.
>
> JL
>
> On Sun, Jan 26, 2020 at 11:22 AM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > Maybe it goes without saying but, as the OED notes, the primary
> > motivation, whichever real or fictitious Sally may have been involves,
> was
> > the alliteration of Cousin Sally = “C[onfederate] S[tates]” as a nod to
> > that in Uncle Sam for “U[nited] S[tates].”
> >
> > > On Jan 26, 2020, at 8:25 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > The following is highly speculative, iffy.
> > >
> > > OED now has an entry for Cousin Sally referring to Confederate States
> > from 1861, reasonably enough.
> > > Speculation: this name choice might could have been influenced by the
> > often-reprinted antebellum southern folk tale, Cousin Sally Dillard.
> > Richard Walzer, "Ham Jones: Southern Folk Humorist,"The Journal of
> American
> > Folklore
> > > Vol. 78, No. 310 (Oct. - Dec., 1965), pp. 295-316 [via JSTOR], reprints
> > and discusses it.
> > >
> > > The Daily Journal, Wilmington, NC, March 21, 1860, 2/2 on slavery and
> > abolition:
> > > "That is what the Register said only one month before the meeting of
> the
> > Opposition Convention, before the editor was brought to the confessional
> by
> > cousin "Sally Dillard" and received the judgement of the court from Judge
> > Badger."
> > >
> > > Admittedly, a weak association, though why a fictional character
> > mentioned? Maybe a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy.
> > >
> > > SG
> > >
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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