[Ads-l] "x-gallon hat" antedated

Mon May 8 17:07:50 UTC 2023

Great work, Peter.
For fun, I checked whether superstition would prevent the emergence of
a thirteen-gallon hat. The answer is below:

Date: November 29, 1932
Newspaper: The Sioux City Journal
Newspaper Location: Sioux City, Iowa
Article: The Rear Seat
Author: J.W.C.
Quote Page 4, Column 3
Database: Newspapers.com
https://www.newspapers.com/image/509635924/

[Begin excerpt]
Who sits astride a broncho's back, erect and debonair, as much at ease
as most men are in a cushioned rocking chair? Who wears a
thirteen-gallon hat atop his: stocky frame--and what is more important
wears a sound head under same?
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 11:53 AM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> “nine gallon hat” 1866.
>
> In a story about a meteor shower watch party.  The hat is not described, but the “man of the gong” was an attorney.  Takes place in Pennsylvania.
>
> [Begin excerpt]Four o’clock found all quiet, the man of the gong beneath a nine-gallon hat, guarding a butcher shop on Pitt St., and thus ended the falling of the meteors in Bedford, in 1866.[end excerpt]
>
> Bedford Gazette (Indiana), November 23, 1866, page 3.  ChroniclingAmerica (Library of Congress).
>
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows
>
> From: ADSGarson O'Toole<mailto:adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Sunday, May 7, 2023 11:40 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: "x-gallon hat" antedated
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "x-gallon hat" antedated
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Excellent work, Peter. Here are some earlier instances of "two gallon
> hat" in 1871 and 1876.
>
> Date: June 10, 1871
> Newspaper: Weekly American Workman
> Newspaper Location: Boston, Massachusetts
> Article Title: Correspondence
> Correspondence To: Editor
> Correspondence From: A Seer
> Date of Correspondence: June 5, 1871
> Location of Correspondence: New York
> Quote Page 4, Column 3
> Database: GenealogyBank
>
> [Begin excerpt - double-check for typos]
> . . . I want to introduce you to an old familiar face, on which
> perhaps you have not looked for many years. This is Henry Smith, the
> original "Razor Strop man," whom nearly every grown-up man or woman
> has seen at some period of his or her life, at muster, cattle show, or
> camp meeting . . .
>
> Mr. Smith wears a white two gallon hat, which, "when removed,
> discloses the fact that his very thin, white hair is parted in the
> middle=E2=80=94quite wide; he wears No. 12 brogans, which he has made for h=
> im
> at Natick; unlike, Mr. Greeley, he uses neither alchoholic liquors,
> tobacco, or bad language; he is a Republican in politics, although
> opposed to the re-election of Grant; he uses no perfumery on his
> handkerchief, and seldom carries one.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Here is an instance of =E2=80=9Ctwo-gallon hat=E2=80=9D in 1876. An anecdot=
> e described
> a =E2=80=9CHillsdale theological student=E2=80=9D who was visiting a wealth=
> y woman
> hoping to obtain a large donation. He =E2=80=9Chired a livery rig for $4.50
> and drove 8 miles through the mud=E2=80=9D to the benefactress, but after t=
> he
> visit ended the donation received was 25 cents.
>
> Date: January 13, 1876
> Newspaper: The Evening News
> Newspaper Location: Detroit, Michigan
> Article: State Items
> Quote Page 3, Column 3
> Database: GenealogyBank
>
> [Begin excerpt - double-check for typos]
> Rumor says that toiling homeward through the mud he repeated reversed
> prayers and set his two-gallon hat on the back of his head in a very
> defiant and worldly manner, just as if he didn=E2=80=99t intend to be good =
> any
> more.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Mon, May 1, 2023 at 11:05=E2=80=AFAM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com>=
>  wrote:
> >
> > =E2=80=9Ctwo-gallon=E2=80=9D hat 1882.
> > [Begin excerpt]Hey Charley; don=E2=80=99t talk so loud.  When we have our=
>  two-gallon hat on the girls can=E2=80=99t tell us from the =E2=80=98hairy =
> man of the jungles.=E2=80=99[End Excerpt]
> > The Homer Index (Homer, Michigan), April 12, 1882, page 3.
> >
> > This example does not specify the type of hat, but based on the context o=
> f many early examples, and as specifically explained in some later examples=
> , the types of hats generally referred to as =E2=80=9Ctwo gallon=E2=80=9D h=
> ats (or sometimes larger volume) from the 1880s through about 1920 were sto=
> vepipe hats or top hats.
> >
> > The earliest example of =E2=80=9Cten-gallon=E2=80=9D hat I found, from 19=
> 08, was also a top hat style hat.
> >
> > [Begin Excerpt]This morning, just about the time Enquirer readers pick up=
>  the paper and give it hasty perusal before negotiating their ham and eggs =
> and hot rolls, a special train that worked overtime in eating up the distan=
> ce between this city and the town of the Big Wind on Michigan=E2=80=99s sho=
> res will be shedding oodles of white ten-gallon hats in the Union Depot of =
> the latter city.[End Excerpt]
> > Cincinnati Enquirer, June 15, 1908, page 7.
> >
> > A photo of those particular hats in a separate article about the same eve=
> nt verified that they were top hats, not cowboy hats.
> >
> > The earliest =E2=80=9Cx-gallon=E2=80=9D cowboy hat reference I found is f=
> rom Kansas City in 1917, a =E2=80=9C6-gallon=E2=80=9D hat.  The earliest =
> =E2=80=9Cten-gallon=E2=80=9D cowboy hat I found is from El Paso in 1918.  M=
> any ten-gallon hat references, but the predominant early x-gallon cowboy ha=
> t examples are =E2=80=9Cfour-gallon=E2=80=9D hats, also many early =E2=80=
> =9Ctwo-gallon=E2=80=9D cowboy hats, continuing the older format with a new =
> hat style.
> >
> > =E2=80=9CTen-gallon=E2=80=9D hat became more-or-less standard beginning i=
> n 1927, during a spate of reporting on President Calvin Coolidge looking aw=
> kward in his =E2=80=9Cten gallon=E2=80=9D hat during a trip to South Dakota=
> .
> >
> > I traced the origin of two widely circulated theories that =E2=80=9Cten-g=
> allon=E2=80=9D was derived from Spanish.  I posted here recently asking for=
>  help finding the original of one of those references, which first surfaced=
>  in 1939.
> > https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2023-April/163330.html
> >
> > The theory is that =E2=80=9Cgallon=E2=80=9D is a corruption of =E2=80=9Cg=
> alon,=E2=80=9D a decorative ribbon or braid.
> >
> > A second theory, first floated in 1985, believes it is a corruption of th=
> e expression, =E2=80=9Ctan galan,=E2=80=9D which means very handsome, or so=
> mething like that.
> >
> > I=E2=80=99ve posted a more thorough (too thorough) discussion on my blog.
> > https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2023/04/two-gallon-top-hats-and-ten-gallon.htm=
> l
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=3D550986> for Wind=
> ows
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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