[Ads-l] antedating "commie"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

I meant to say: Excellent citation JL.
Garson

On Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 10:17 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Excellent citation, LH.
>
> Green’s Dictionary of Slang has:
>
> 1939 citation for commie n. a communist
> 1949 citation for commie adj. communist, far-left wing.
> You located a Nov 29, 1931 citation for the noun.
>
> Here is a citation for the noun which appeared a few months earlier:
>
> Date: June 1, 1931
> Newspaper: The Militant
> Newspaper Location: New York, New York
> Article: Organization Notes - The Movement in Los Angeles - Los Angeles
> Quote Page 7, Column 3
> Database: ProQuest
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> These workers will listen attentively to any subject of working class
> interest but feel an absolute hostility towards the official Communist
> party. This hostility I came in contact with often throughout the
> country. Down in the working class section of L. A., the party is
> known as the “commies”.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 9:36 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 1931 _Knoxville [Tenn.] News-Sentinel_ (Nov. 29) B-5: Police Battle
> > 'Commies' ...DETROIT ...Five persons, including two police, were
> > injured...when Communist agitators led 2000 unemployed on Grand Circus Park.
> >
> > Earlier it referred to a kind of child's marble:
> >
> > 1923 _Plain Dealer_ (Cleveland, O.) (June 28) 26:United States marble
> > championship... Harlan McCoy, 14, ...king of the commies.
> >
> > And to a member of the Decatur (IIlinois) Commodores, a minor league ball
> > team (1900-1974):
> >
> > 1907 _Herald and Review_ (Decatur, Ill.) (Sept. 12) 3: Tale Of How Commies
> > Lost The Pennant.
> >
> > 1917 Ibid. (Apr. 20) 5: "Ziggy" Scherer...formerly cavorted in the outfield
> > with the Decatur Commies.
> >
> > Earlier still, as "Commy," the usual nickname of Charles A. Comiskey,
> > player and later president of the Chicago Amerians (today's White Sox).
> >
> > 1890 _Sioux City Journal_ (Jan. 29) 3: And "Commy" nodded assent.
> >
> >
> > 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