[Ads-l] "whisperlow"

[Peter Reitan]

An item from 1927 claims that, "'Whisper-Low' for speakeasy [was] coined 
by Abel Green, who records the Street for Variety."

Bakersfield Morning Echo (Bakersfield, California), February 15, 1927, 
page 4.

"Whisper Low", as a speakeasy, appears in Variety at least as early as 
March 31, 1926, and a number of times afterward.

"67 Speakeasies on One Side St. Between B'way and River - in Times 
Square. A speak-easy tourist and admittedly expert on whisper-low 
joints, has checked up on 67 known booze dispensaries on one Times 
Square side street between Broadway and the Hudson River."

Variety, March 31, 1926.


I've written previously about "speak softly shop" that dates to at least 
the 1820s, but have never run across Whisper-Low before.

https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2014/08/liquor-licenses-steelworkers-and.html

https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2014/12/speakeasy-update-antedating-speak-easy.html



------ Original Message ------
From: "George Thompson" <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
Sent: 3/4/2020 1:20:31 PM
Subject: "whisperlow"

>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
>Subject:      "whisperlow"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>This is not in the OED nor DARE.
>
>I'm searching HRVH Historical Newspapers --  covering various newspapers
>from the Hudson River Valley, and available to all, for free -- looking for
>speakeasies and rum-runners.
>
>I found one instance of "whisperlow" meaning "speakeasy":
>
>. . . he disclosed that he was a Revenue officer and that he and his
>overall-clad companion had just gotten evidence in the Butler "whisperlow.=
>=E2=80=9D
>  Sometime ago, when there were five other places in this village raided by
>the federal prohibition officers,
>             Rockland County Evening Journal (Nyack,  N. Y.), May 21, 1931
>
>From twenty years later, "whisperlow" appeared in 3 advertisements, meaning
>prices so very low that they can be spoken only in a whisper:
>
>
>
>SECOND FOR SYLVIA... And she's certainly having an easy time choosing her
>stunning maternity ensemble at *whisperlow* prices. Where? At Maternally
>Yours, of course. Dresses from $7.95. . . .
>
>            Scarsdale Inquirer, September 21, 1951
>
>
>GAT
>
>--=20
>George A. Thompson
>Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>Univ. Pr., 1998.
>
>But when aroused at the Trump of Doom / Ye shall start, bold kings, from
>your lowly tomb. . .
>L. H. Sigourney, "Burial of Mazeen", Poems.  Boston, 1827, p. 112
>
>The Trump of Doom -- also known as The Dunghill Toadstool.  (Here's a
>picture of his great-grandfather.)
>http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/james-gillray/an-excrescence---=
>a-fungus-alias-a-toadstool-upon-a-dunghill/3851
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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