[Ads-l] Antedatings of "screwball"

[Pete Morris]

Here's a cite from November 1845 used in a sporting context.

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Knickerbocker/eG41AQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=screwball&pg=PA427&printsec=frontcover

The motion very much resembles that of one who , in playing  'base,' 
screws
his ball , as the expression is among boys ; or of a man rolling what is 
known
among the players of ten pins as a screw - ball ;



------ Original Message ------
>From "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 12/08/2022 13:15:34
Subject Re: Antedatings of "screwball"

>And here's Skewie with long esses:
>
>https://tinyurl.com/4xtvvebt
>
>JL
>
>On Fri, Aug 12, 2022 at 8:08 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>>Yes, indeedy. In 1868, e.g.:
>>
>>https://tinyurl.com/2p8pt92k
>>
>>JL
>>
>>
>>On Fri, Aug 12, 2022 at 8:02 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>>On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 9:49 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>>So "Stewball" started out as "Skewball", who started out as "Skewbald",
>>>>not
>>>>to be confused with "Piebald"--a more widely attested equine but with no
>>>>musical legacy.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>On Thu, Aug 11, 2022 at 9:09 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>>>> >
>>>>wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > I
>>>> >
>>>> > 1866: OED (in cricket)
>>>> >
>>>> > 1839  _Sun_ (Baltimore) (June 10) 3: AUCTION OF DURHAM
>>>> > CATTLE..._Screwball_, red and white, bred by Gen. Gresham Parsons, of
>>>> > Brighton, Mass.
>>>> >
>>>> > Doubtless an unlisted variant of "skewbald." Cf. "Skewball was a
>>>> > racehorse...."
>>>> >
>>>> > II
>>>> >
>>>> > 1933: OED
>>>> >
>>>> > 1932  _Milwaukee Journal _ (Nov. 8) 24: Johnny “Screwball” Blood –
>>>>Whence
>>>> > that “screwball”? Well, sir, it’s this way – Mr. Blood is a bit of an
>>>> > eccentric. He is inclined to cut capers.
>>>> >
>>>> > JL
>>>> > "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
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>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."
>>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>"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 - http://www.americandialect.org

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