[Ads-l] Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated Chronology

Mon Jul 6 10:19:11 UTC 2020

Among my mistakes: in “Dixie…Chronology” “1861 John Bell of TN, from Dixie’s Land” should read “1860 John Bell of TN, from Dixon’s Land.” Another “Dixon’s Land” appeared in a letter to the editor in 1861, Providence Evening Press [AmHistN], Feb. 26, p. 1 col. 7.

The eastern NY kid’s game is noted in Dialect Notes,  vol. 1 p. 398 as a local NY name for the game also known as king or king calico. In Dialect Notes v. 2,  p. 139 “Dickie’s Land” game (this time, Cattaraugus Co., the words gathered at Cornell U. from 1896 to 1900), is described with Dixie noted and “Note rime:

“I’m on Dickie’s Land

Dickie don’t know it,

He’s got a sore toe

An’ he can’t go it.”

“This is sung by the players leading out. In the South the verses begin “I’m on Dixie’s land.”

The 1854 Dorothea Dix Land Bill almost passed. It would have provided land for mental hospitals. The 1855 text (as well as one from 1861) may also belittle it, aware of “Dixey’s land.”

Though D. D. Emmett surely popularized Dixie, it, apparently, did not spring from his head fully-formed like Athena from Zeus. But, apparently, came from Dixon’s Line then to Dixie and Dickey Land games then to Dixie song.

Stephen Goranson

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2020 8:26 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated Chronology

The rhyme of /h ^ m/  and /k ^ m/ could indicate a New England origin, but
I may be over-interpreting the data.

JL

On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 12:49 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Still more old stuff?  (Stop me, if you've heard this one.)  It's very
> late, but it asserts that the game was associated with a song/chant:
>
> 1914 _Austin American_ (Sept. 27) 13: "An old resident of New York [n.b. -
> JL] tells of a game called "Dixie's Land" which he used to play many years
> before the Civil War. The game was to run upon your opponent's section and
> then taunt the catcher with a song womewhat as follows:
>
>               I'm on Dixie's Land!  Dixie aint' [sic] at home;
>               Dixie's gone fishing. Dixie can't come."
>
> If Emmett had heard something similar, may have wondered about the origin
> of "Dixie's land," and decided that it could only refer to "Mason and
> Dixon's Line," Dixon being incorrectly assumed as a representative of the
> South  (Mason : Dixon:: North : South).
>
> I could go for that.  Less persuasive is the tangential possibility that
> the tale of slaves being eager to head back to "Dixie's Land" is a
> rationalization of the origin of the game, again based on the belief (which
> could be true!) that "Dixie's" was originally "Dixon's."
>
> Since the M-D Line was surveyed in the 1760s, there would have been plenty
> of time for the name of game to have developed from that by 1850 (or even
> 1800).
>
> JL
>
>
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Jul 2, 2020 at 11:22 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Of course this 1844 "Dixey's Land" is not the 1859 song, nor did I mean
>> that it was. "Playing" here indicated dance, movement.
>>
>> Whether this * "Original Sketch: sequel to 'The Christmas Carol." was
>> properly listed as "(fiction?)," (was Dickens' piece non-fiction?) , I
>> naturally leave to each reader.
>>
>> Stephen Goranson
>> <
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/docview/136773498/F5791B20C0EE4EC2PQ/8?accountid=10598__;!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NCyw7k9M$
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>   *
>> *Proquest, American Periodicals, as reported by JL on ads-l long ago
>>   *
>> Original Sketches.: SEQUEL TO "THE CHRISTMAS CAROL."
>>
>> LINCOLN RAMBLE<
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/indexinglinkhandler/sng/au/LINCOLN*RAMBLE/$N?accountid=10598__;Kw!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NHhStSEY$ >.
>> The New World; a Weekly Family Journal of Popular Literature, Science, Art
>> and News (1840-1845)<
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/pubidlinkhandler/sng/pubtitle/The*New*World$3b*a*Weekly*Family*Journal*of*Popular*Literature,*Science,*Art*and*News*$281840-1845$29/$N/35386/PagePdf/136773498/fulltextPDF/F5791B20C0EE4EC2PQ/8?accountid=10598__;KysrKysrKysrKysrKys!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NEGrQ1rj$ >;
>> New York Vol. 9, Iss. 26, <
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://search.proquest.com/americanperiodicals/indexingvolumeissuelinkhandler/35386/The*New*World$3b*a*Weekly*Family*Journal*of*Popular*Literature,*Science,*Art*and*News*$281840-1845$29/01844Y12Y28$23Dec*28,*1844$3b**AVol.*9*$2826$29/9/26?accountid=10598__;KysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKysrKys!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NDGIDGdM$ >
>> (Dec 28, 1844): 803
>>
>>
>>
>> SG
>> ________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
>> dave at WILTON.NET <dave at WILTON.NET>
>> Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2020 10:57 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Subject: Re: Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated Chronology
>>
>> I don't interpret the 1844 reference to the dance this way. The dance and
>> music being played aren't "Dixey's Land," the writer is comparing the
>> dancers crossing imaginary boundaries with the children playing the game
>> of
>> "Dixey's Land," which the writer had written about a few months before and
>> was obviously familiar with. Both the 1844 references are to the game.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
>> Stephen
>> Goranson
>> Sent: Thursday, July 2, 2020 8:34 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: [ADS-L] Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated
>> Chronology
>>
>> Dixie Land: a Provisional, Incomplete, Annotated Chronology
>>
>> [Details are in American Dialect Society -list archive, J. Lighter's
>> Historical Dic. American Slang, and J. Green's Dic. Of Slang; additions
>> and
>> corrections welcome.]
>>
>> [Variant Dix+-spellings, some informalisms and/or (black or white) slang
>> or
>> maybe kid-speech (Dickie) for Dixon, he of the exceedingly well-known
>> Line,
>> and eventually, land. Searches for a kind-hearted NY D. slaveholder or a
>> particular D. minstrel role or individual--other than Dixon--may have been
>> over-rated. Old-timers who recalled such related pre-1859 games, perhaps
>> similar to Tag and, maybe, to Red Rover, vindicated.]
>>
>> 1763-7 the Mason and Dixon Line survey
>>
>> 1835 US South [apparently imo called] Mason and Dixon's *Land*
>>
>> 1844 a (fiction?) dance, with playing "Dixey's Land"; also 1844, same
>> author, play at Dixie's land on newly-washed pavement
>>
>> 1849 Mason & Dixon Line re-surveyed and largely confirmed
>>
>> 1852 kids in NY play games "I Spy," and "Tag," and "Dicky's land"
>>
>> [1854 Dorothea Dix's Land Bill, not enacted-in 1861 belittled in NY
>> publication]
>>
>> 1855 .this game.the game cannot be played without the State.those who go
>> to
>> Dixey's land must be Dixey's men
>>
>> 1856 boys on skates [in Buffalo] played "Dickie's Land" and "Tag"
>>
>> 1859 D.D. Emmett [who spent time in NY] songs Jonny Roach and Dixie's Land
>> make Dixie (land) famous [On Emmett see Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the
>> rise
>> of Negro minstrelsy, second edition, 1977]
>>
>> 1861 H.  Hotze writes Dixie is an abbreviation for Mason and Dixon's Line
>> and claims he previously heard northern negroes use it as such
>>
>> 1861 John Bell of TN, from Dixie's Land
>>
>> 1861 WH Russell [160 or 60?-river vs crow-fly?)] miles north of Memphis
>> reports Dixie's Land is a synonym for heaven
>>
>> 1861 Old Game of Dixie's Land, sport, in NY, decades past, with lines,
>> boundaries North and South
>>
>> 1861 Mason and Dixon line, or on Dixon's, or Dixey's Line itself [PA
>> newspaper]
>>
>> 1863 Artemis Ward crosses Dixie's line [several newspapers]
>>
>> 1869 "sout' in Tixey" [see Green]
>>
>> 1872 Dixie's land, a recalled game NY boys played, also "Tag"
>>
>> 1872 Emmett, whose story changed later, claimed northern negroes said "I
>> wish I was in Dixie's land" when he was about to travel south
>>
>>
>> Stephen Goranson
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society -
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.americandialect.org__;!!OToaGQ!6u3UOBHGZpwDRYM07bTLumAkC0084HctT-N4HPMm_HSuvrZ-Skqs5aXZWyDx2dQm$
>>
>>
>> --
>> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
>>
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.avast.com/antivirus__;!!OToaGQ!6u3UOBHGZpwDRYM07bTLumAkC0084HctT-N4HPMm_HSuvrZ-Skqs5aXZW5TYD2DI$
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society -
>> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.americandialect.org__;!!OToaGQ!6u3UOBHGZpwDRYM07bTLumAkC0084HctT-N4HPMm_HSuvrZ-Skqs5aXZWyDx2dQm$
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.americandialect.org__;!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NJitB3is$
>>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.americandialect.org__;!!OToaGQ!7nJH1z7Hbnm1IHgdY_zRUGUZKja4e7DXRiJ1IwCXafMX3chWEvzTU3g1NJitB3is$

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