[Ads-l] Antedatings of "screwball"

[Laurence Horn]

Well, a lot of horse hockey under the bridge over the last 200 years, but I
notice that the Grey Mare, despite being the betting favorite, was already
eating the noble Skewball's dust back then, as she still does in the age of
Joan Baez, Peter Paul & Mary, et al.  Well, Stewball's dust.  (Squire
Mirvin seems to have fallen out of the story.) Steeleye Span preserves
Skewball's name in the original form along with the hapless and nameless
Grey Mare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bZJk0G4U_8

LH

On Fri, Aug 12, 2022 at 8:16 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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