[Ads-l] antedating "commie"

Sat Sep 17 22:35:51 UTC 2022

But can you buy an authentic reproduction of a 1928 Bolshie team jersey
like this: https://www.ebbets.com/products/decatur-commies-1928-home-jersey
?

Wear to the convention of your choice!

JL

On Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 2:52 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> For which the corresponding diminutive/hypocoristic is
> "Bolsh(e)y"/"Bolshie". As you point out in HDAS, that's attested from a
> 1919 letter by Carl Sandburg, with the spelling bolshie. That term (with
> lower case, in adjectival use) has undergone a shift especially in British
> slang, so that current dictionaries provide 'uncooperative, obstreperous,
> combative' as the primary sense. Perhaps there's some blocking in the
> earlier ideological meaning by "commie", but I'm not sure that's as robust
> a slur in the U.K. as it is in (post-McCarthy) U.S. usage.
>
> LH
>
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 11:56 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > Doesn't the OED have a 1928 citation for the noun ?
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2022 10:56 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: antedating "commie"
> >
> > Thanks, G !
> >
> > What with the Decatur Commies, the marble commies, and "Commy" Comiskey
> > already in circulation, I suspect there's a pre-'31 somewhere.
> >
> > The usual 1920's synonym, however, was "Bolsheviks."
> >
> > JL
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 10:24 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> > adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > 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."
> > > > >
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