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

[Wilson Gray]

> 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."
- Stephen Goranson

Gerald Cohen has already reached a similar conclusion:
"_Hep_ probably derives from the Southern-variant form of _help_, viz.
_hep_."
Comments on etymology. vol.47, no.8. May, 2018. Pages 43-45.

I, FWIW, agree with him and, by extension, with Stephen Goranson.

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"?

On Fri, Jan 31, 2020 at 6:42 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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-- 
-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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