[Ads-l] "The whole schmeer/schmear" [Antedating, 1901, with a hint at 1900]

[Dan Goncharoff]

Just thought I would mention that "schmeer-case" makes me think of
"schmearkase", the original name of cottage cheese.
DanG


On Tue, May 25, 2021 at 3:20 PM Bonnie Taylor-Blake <b.taylorblake at gmail.com>
wrote:

> OED has for its earliest example for "the whole schmear/schmeer" one from
> Wisconsin, January 1909, which surprises me since I had assumed this was a
> 1930s Hollywood or New York thing. (In the 1909 case it's "schmeer.")
>
> What follows are some earlier appearances.
>
> -- Bonnie
>
> -----------------------
>
> Instead of marking our silk waists at $1.25 and $1.50 yd, what they are
> actually worth -- we want a big silk sale and have consequently placed the
> whole "schmeer" on sale at [blank] Fair Price 99c yd If they are not worth
> $1.25 to $1.50 yd don't buy. (From an advertisement in The Halstead
> [Kansas] Independent, 14 March 1901, p. 8. That "[blank]" indicates just a
> blank space -- no doubt a printer was to insert a price or similar there.)
>
> Jim's rathskeller was crowded and the flowing bowl passed freely. The whole
> schmear was there, and everybody had a large, lovely time. (From "Stein
> Shower a Big Success; Jim Dowdmeier Entertained His Friends Friday Night at
> His Home in Lewisburg," The [Covington] Kentucky Post, 11 June 1904, p. 1.)
>
> -----------------------
>
> By the way, an article about a baseball game published in April, 1900
> included "thus retiring the whole schmeer-case, as it were," because
> Oakland shortstop Schmeer was involved in the play. It's possible that
> "whole schmeer-case" is a play on "the whole schmeer," but I don't think
> that's solid and I'm unsure what "case" means here. (The Evening Mail
> [Stockton, CA], 16 April 1900, p. 2.)
>
> Finally, here's one from December, 1909, so later than the OED's example,
> but I was interested in its appearance in Nebraska.
>
> -----------------------
>
> Dear reader, did you ever see angels in your dreams? Cross-eyed angels with
> green Santa Claus whiskers and horns like a Texas steer? The writer did,
> and the whole schmear was caused by eating an indigestible supper Wednesday
> evening. But it wasn't a blamed bit funny while it lasted. (The Norfolk
> [Nebraska] Press, 24 December 1909, p. 1.)
>
>
> ReplyForward
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