[Ads-l] "great unwashed"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:
> The wikipedia article on Edward Bulwer-Lytton (whose birthday
> was yesterday) credits him with coining the phrase "the great unwashed"
> in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford.
>
> 1829 London Standard 22 Jan 3/2
>
> We have just returned from a walk through part of Dame-street,
> and such a congregation of foul and fetid smells -- such a compositioni
> of the "great unwashed" has not been exhibited in this metropolis within
> our recollection.
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/image/409659558/?terms=%22great%20unwashed%22&match=1

Excellent citation, Bill. There is a pertinent entry in the OED, and
the book by Edward Bulwer-Lytton is the first citation. So you have
also helped the OED.

[Begin excerpt]
unwashed, adj. and n.     B. n.
People who are not usually in a clean state, regarded collectively;
the ‘lower classes’. Frequently in the great unwashed.

1830   E. Bulwer-Lytton Paul Clifford I. p. xix   He is certainly a
man who bathes and ‘lives cleanly’, (two especial charges preferred
against him by Messrs. the Great Unwashed).
[End excerpt]

Garson

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