[Ads-l] Antedating of "square" and "Squaresville"

[Jonathan Lighter]

1934 _Drexel [Mo.] Star_ (June 14) 1:  Filora McCord...was born on August
4, 1863, near Squaresville, Johnson county, Kansas, which was located
between Okletree and Aubrey, Kas. [sic]

Info on the Kansas Squaresville and others is difficult to come by.

JL

On Fri, Dec 8, 2023 at 5:13 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> In prehistory:
>
> 1862 _Leavenworth Daily Conservative_ (Sept. 21) 1: We are now prepared to
> forward, with safety and dispatch,...packages of every description, in
> charge of special messengers, to Olathe, Squaresville, Paola,...and all the
> principal places in southern Kansas.
>
> 1891 _Cincinnati  Enquirer_ (Nov. 10) 5: Either that, or he will have to
> "go to Squaresville" - that is, settle up.
>
> 1899 _Fort Wayne Gazette_ (March 28) 6: Morgan Murphy joined the Phillies
> two days late, but got to "Squaresville" with a tale about washouts and
> delayed trains.
>
> 1902 _Cincinnati Enquirer_ (Nov. 16) 10: They often went to Squaresville
> with the story after the sale of a popular player's release
>
>
> JL
>
>
> On Fri, Dec 8, 2023 at 2:49 PM Steven Losie <stevenlosie at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> SQUARE (OED3, adj., sense II.10.d., 1946)
>> This is the slang meaning, in the sense of "conventional, old-fashioned".
>> Note that GDoS quotes the New York Age, 12 Oct 1940, which predates this,
>> but is the noun form. ("Don't be no square" in the New York Age, vs.
>> "Don't
>> be square" in the below citation.)
>>
>> [begin quote]
>> Get hep! Keep in step' Jam it son! Hit that drum! Don't be dicty, don't be
>> square! Jive and sing and swing that thing!
>> [end quote]
>> Source: Muskogee Daily Phoenix (Muskogee, Oklahoma), 17 May 1942, p.18,
>> col.1 (newspapers.com)
>> Article title: Three Rip-Roaring Comedies Are Featured At The Ritz This
>> Week
>> Author: Paul Sadler
>>
>> SQUARESVILLE (OED3, 1956) (GDoS, 1953)
>>
>> [begin quote]
>> To the ickie from Squaresville, who doesn't savvy the jive: Why don't you
>> get your boots laced, get down in the dirty old ditch and dig deep with
>> the
>> reet beat, and then you'll be hep when the hot men feed the cats.
>> [end quote]
>> The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia), 2 July 1943, p.9, col.2 (
>> newspapers.com)
>> Article title: Letterettes in Fifty Words / Greek Wins Popularity Steaks
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> 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."

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