[Ads-l] cleanser

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri May 1 20:58:58 UTC 2020


I prefer to think of myself as a geezer, not a codger.  Not only do I
recall Old Dutch Cleanser with the lady chasing dirt with a stick; I also
recall reading about the following, though not in this source:

1919 Army and Navy Journal (Sept. 27) 100: The sergeant explained that [a
heavy artillery piece nicknamed] Old Dutch Cleanser had been used by the
55th [Artillery] regiment. This gun was used in the St. Mihiel and
Argonne-Meuse offensives.

Am old and crass enough to still find this funny.

JL

On Fri, May 1, 2020 at 4:25 PM George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
wrote:

> "Old Dutch" was a Cleanser.
>
> Old codgers will remember the labels on its containers, showing a girl in
> Dutch costume "chasing dirt".
>
> GAT
>
> GAT
>
> On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 11:38 AM Joan Hall <
> 00000876364530cf-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Here is DARE’s entry:
> >
> > cleanser n
> > eNew England<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www-2Ddaredictionary-2Dcom.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu_search-3Frcode-3Dregion.NEng&d=DwIGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=aBZTlEPILNX3cTQVZsxedTn767BqYGZKib-ShbzNXac&s=cVVGcEz1E2OqPi4ks5dWeSvT2FD5XvZuLOfFJhmj-t0&e=
> > >, esp Boston<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www-2Ddaredictionary-2Dcom.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu_search-3Frcode-3Dregion.Boston&d=DwIGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=aBZTlEPILNX3cTQVZsxedTn767BqYGZKib-ShbzNXac&s=eDAlHxxFtZOH0jR1eyGVbUoRSp0HgYekdh0r6VbgcS4&e=
> > > Massachusetts<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www-2Ddaredictionary-2Dcom.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu_search-3Frcode-3Dregion.MA&d=DwIGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=aBZTlEPILNX3cTQVZsxedTn767BqYGZKib-ShbzNXac&s=cCe5qb4gjfTIsEOUBY4Sce-33c-lBexwp2Ia_X9F9pE&e=
> > > area
> >
> > A dry cleaner.
> >
> >
> >   *   1958 AmSp<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www-2Ddaredictionary-2Dcom.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu_bibliography-3FletterHeading-3DA-23bibl-5F4444&d=DwIGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=aBZTlEPILNX3cTQVZsxedTn767BqYGZKib-ShbzNXac&s=91NPMuPz_YPYY6nsg4VxpqF8eiVWrxvIw2pQfFlTn6Q&e=
> > > 33.158, The area in which cleaning and cleaners become cleansing and
> > cleansers shows a striking coincidence with the major portion of the
> > classic Atlas ‘tonic’ area of eastern New England. . . in Boston and its
> > environs, extending westerly as far as Worcester, they [cleansers and
> > cleansing establishments] began to appear in profusion.
> >   *   1961 AmSp<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www-2Ddaredictionary-2Dcom.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu_bibliography-3FletterHeading-3DA-23bibl-5F4444&d=DwIGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=aBZTlEPILNX3cTQVZsxedTn767BqYGZKib-ShbzNXac&s=91NPMuPz_YPYY6nsg4VxpqF8eiVWrxvIw2pQfFlTn6Q&e=
> > > 36.225, In the area pivoting on Boston, cleanser seems to be a survival
> > of a genuine regionalism, probably now found chiefly in the names of
> firms.
> > The Boston Directory for 1907, pp. 2051–52, has the headings Cleansers
> and
> > Cleansing Works, with not a cleaner in sight. . . The 1958 Yellow Pages
> for
> > Portland, Maine, . . lists 10 cleansers to 18 cleaners. Other New England
> > cities outside the [tonic] area have a much lower proportion: Burlington,
> > Vt., one to 12; Concord, N.H., one to 11; Manchester, N.H., 4 to 21.
> >   *   1966 PMLA<
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www-2Ddaredictionary-2Dcom.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu_bibliography-3FletterHeading-3DM-23bibl-5F6922&d=DwIGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=aBZTlEPILNX3cTQVZsxedTn767BqYGZKib-ShbzNXac&s=ZFhFQ1Rym-kljKLwcLsfftuEmSos9LoMg41XjMn_1Oo&e=
> > > 81.2.11, A Middle Western academician transplanted to MIT quickly
> learns
> > to order tonic for his children, not soda pop, and to send his clothes
> to a
> > cleanser.
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society -
> >
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=DwIGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=v2Wtu7DQZxSBMSJv-oEMNg&m=aBZTlEPILNX3cTQVZsxedTn767BqYGZKib-ShbzNXac&s=hPwaO-DZ-Rq2_iU7pyIcXScLPVI50BygrDaXrU2i1Pk&e=
> >
>
>
> --
> 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
>


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

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list