[Ads-l] Antedating of "Jinx, v."

Mon Aug 8 19:28:00 UTC 2022

Here's undated sheet music of "Captain Jinks," "by T. Maclagan."

The appended "Select List of New and Popular songs, etc." seems not to
include any relating to the Civil War. Thus "CJ" might antedate 1862. The
website dates it to no earlier than 1856.

https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1035&context=sheetmusic

JL

On Mon, Aug 8, 2022 at 3:09 PM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:

> For anyone interested in the history of “Jinks”/”Jinx” – Captain Jinks of
> the Horse Marines was a sort of clumsy ne’er do-well, as I recall – things
> went wrong.  But he did not have the sense of a bad luck charm.
>
> Beginning in 1885, Frank Daniels had a play called “Little Puck,” which
> included a character named “Jinks Hoodoo” – from which the sense of bad
> luck charm associated with Hoodoo may have been transferred to “Jinks”.
> “Little Puck” was based on a book called “Vice Versa,” a precursor of
> “Freaky Friday,” in which a father and son switch bodies and assume each
> others’ positions in life – son makes decisions, father goes to school.
> All facilitated by an idol of some kind from Jinks Hoodoo’s dime museum.
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows
>
> From: Peter Reitan<mailto:pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Monday, August 8, 2022 11:26 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Jinx, v."
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Jinx, v."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Not earlier, but =93jinksed=94 as a verb a short time later.
>
> The Saturday Evening Post, Volume 182, Number 48, May 28, 1910, page 5.
>
> The Na=EFve Mr. Dasher =96 Story of a Baseball Jinks, by Allen Sangree.
>
> [Start Excerpt] =93It wouldn=92t be hard to put a jinks on this club,=94
> he=
>  told himself confidently.  =93There=92s a dozen of =91em scared t=92
> death=
>  of a wagonload of empty barrels.  Miller =96 he=92s th=92 limit, McGuigan=
> =92s a nut himself.  By gad, I=92d like t=92 do it; old gold-digger=92d
> nev=
> er know =96 get =91em jinksed =96 set =91em down a couple o=92 games.[End
> E=
> xcerpt]
>
>
> https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=3Duiuo.ark:/13960/t2j70302x&view=3D1=
> up&seq=3D79&skin=3D2021
> <https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=3Duiuo.ark:/13960/t2j70302x&view=3D1=up&seq=3D79&skin=3D2021>
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3D550986> for
> Window=
> s
>
> From: Peter Reitan<mailto:pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Monday, August 8, 2022 11:08 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Jinx, v."
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -------------------=
> ----
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Peter Reitan <pjreitan at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Jinx, v."
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ----
>
> I have a lot of information on =3D93Jinks=3D94 and =3D93Jinx=3D94 that I
> ha=
> ve not p=3D
> ut in a blog post yet.
>
> I had not taken a close look at Jinx as a verb, but have taken a quick
> look=
> =3D
>  after seeing these comments.
>
> =3D93Jinx=3D94 is almost certainly, ultimately from an old play or song or
> =
> char=3D
> acter, =3D93Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,=3D94 as noted by Barry
> Popi=
> k (p=3D
> erhaps others) long ago, I believe.
>
> Jinx, Hoodo, Mascot were all common in baseball for bad luck charms and a
> g=
> =3D
> ood luck charm.
> =3D93Put the Jinx on=3D94 was in use from at least 1908 in baseball.
>
> I=3D92ve now found =3D93Jinksed=3D94 as a verb from 1910, also in baseball.
>
> The Buffalo Enquirer, March 10, 1910, page 8.
> [Begin Excerpt] Unlucky Josh Devore. . . . =3D93Ask any of McGraw=3D92s
> men=
>  who=3D
>  is the most unfortunate ball player in the business and Devore will be
> the=
> =3D
>  answer.  Josh says somebody has =3D91Jinksed=3D92 him. [End Excerpt]
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107205766/the-buffalo-enquirer/
>
> A 1915 example of =3D93jinxed=3D94.
>
> Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 18, 1915, page 16.
> [Begin Excerpt] Fate has been unkind to Harry Howell, former Texas League
> u=
> =3D
> mpire.  His ambition to become a grand opera star seems to have jinxed
> him.=
> =3D
>  [End Excerpt]
> https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107205310/fort-worth-star-telegram/
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3D3D550986> for
> Wind=
> ow=3D
> s
>
> From: Pete Morris<mailto:mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM>
> Sent: Monday, August 8, 2022 3:41 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Jinx, v."
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -------------------=
> =3D
> ----
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Pete Morris <mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Jinx, v."
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
> ----
>
> Here's another cite, possibly 1912 or not long after.
>
> Asked if it were true that a cross-eyed girl was a jinx to a player
> he=3D3D=
> 20
> replied
> "It takes less than a cross-eyed girl to jinx them  sometimes"
>
>
> https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Santa_Fe_Employes_Magazine/WnMhAQAAM=
> =3D
> <https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Santa_Fe_Employes_Magazine/WnMhAQAAM==3D>
> =3D3D
>
> AAJ?hl=3D3D3Den&gbpv=3D3D3D1&bsq=3D3D3D%22to+jinx%22&dq=3D3D3D%22to+jinx%22=
> &printse=3D
> c=3D3D3Dfron=3D3D
> tcover
>
>
> Just for clarity, is this a specific baseball term?  Or would jinx as
> a=3D3=
> D2=3D
> 0
> verb in other
> contexts count?  (I don't follow sport at all, and baseball is a=3D3D20
> complete mystery to me)
>
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 08/08/2022 01:49:25
> Subject Antedating of "Jinx, v."
>
> >The OED's first use for "jinx" as a verb is dated 1917.  Edward J.
> Nichols=
> =3D
> =3D3D
> , An Historical Dictionary of Baseball Terminology 39 (1939) cites _New
> Yor=
> =3D
> =3D3D
> k Tribune_, 21 Apr. 1912, although it is possible that the usage cited is
> a=
> =3D
> =3D3D
> s a noun.
> >
> >Fred Shapiro
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> --=3D3D20
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> https://www.avast.com/antivirus
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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