[Ads-l] Antedatings of "to paint the town red"

[Bonnie Taylor-Blake]

Thanks, Garson.

Hugo mentions "crimson" far below, but he also makes note of "varnish[ing]"
the town red (see below), which brings to mind the old suggestion that the
"red" in the idiom may well be a humorous allusion to overuse of "red
liquor" (e.g., whiskey). Using "crimson" and "vermillion" further puts a
humorous spin on the imagery.

-- Bonnie

On Thu, Oct 12, 2023 at 5:03 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

Excellent work, Bonnie, Here is a fun later variant in 1883: "paint
> the town a vermillion hue":
>
> Date: July 12, 1883
> Newspaper: The Fort Wayne Sentinel
> Newspaper Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana
> Article: Fell Among Thieves
> Quote Page 3, Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Last night he met one of his new formed friends who said his name was
> Brown, and that he traveled for A. O. Trentman's wholesale grocery
> house. The doctor and Mr. "Brown" went out together, and proceeded to
> paint the town a vermillion hue. When Dr. Williams awoke this morning
> with a big head, he found his money some $120 gone, likewise Mr.
> "Brown," the affable Companion of his debauch.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Thu, Oct 12, 2023 at 4:07 PM Bonnie Taylor-Blake
> <b.taylorblake at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Nothing spectacular, but in the 10 years since Hugo and Stephen sent
> their
> > messages on "paint the town red," a few more newspapers have been
> > digitized, so now it's possible to push the idiom back to 1874.
> >
> > -- Bonnie
> >
> > -------------------------
> >
> > Therefore we say, the day is not far off in the future, when all the Iowa
> > roads will run their trains into Omaha's mammoth depot, and in that day,
> as
> > Harry Deuel says, "we'll paint the whole town red and sing the hallelujah
> > chorus." (From "The Transfer Question," Omaha Daily Republican, 31 July
> > 1874, p. 4. Via Google News Archive.)
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 5:36 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> > > Subject:      Re: Antedatings of "to paint the town red"
> > >
> > >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > 1880 Sept. 1 [Portland] Oregonian p. 2 America's Historical Newspapers
> > > "Painting the town red means headache in the morning. Simmons Liver
> > > Regulator prevents it."
> > >
> > > Stephen Goranson
> > > http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> > > ________________________________________
> > > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> Hugo
> > > [hugovk at GMAIL.COM]
> > > Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 5:21 AM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: [ADS-L] Antedatings of "to paint the town red"
> > >
> > > "to paint the town red" (OED 27 July 1883)
> > >
> > > Here's a copy/paste of my answer at English Language & Usage, with 1882
> > > and 1883 antedatings, all from Kentucky. Follow the link for links to
> > > source newspapers and better formatting.
> > >
> > > http://english.stackexchange.com/a/68594/9001
> > >
> > > ---
> > >
> > > Why is the phrase "paint the town red" used to mean go on a colossal
> > > drinking spree? Does anyone know where it came from?
> > >
> > > Green's Slang Dictionary tentatively suggests a famous toot by the
> Marquis
> > > of Waterford in 1837 may be the origin, but the earliest citation for
> the
> > > phrase given is 1884.
> > >
> > > ---
> > >
> > > I don't believe this comes from the Marquis of Waterford, when all the
> > > early citations point to a US origin. I thought it would be
> interesting to
> > > trace the US origins to confirm or refute this. From what I found, this
> > > phrase came from 1880s Kentucky, USA, and described cowboys riding into
> > > town, getting drunk and causing havoc.
> > >
> > >
> > > Marquis of Waterford
> > >
> > > Here's a contemporary account of the Marquis painting people and doors
> and
> > > windows in 1837 Melton Mowbray, UK, but there's nothing (verifiable) in
> > > Google Books for paint the town red from before 1884, then suddenly
> eight
> > > examples, I think all American, and most inside quotes suggesting it's
> a
> > > new phrase.
> > >
> > >
> > > Oxford English Dictionary
> > >
> > > The earliest OED citations are from the US. The first from a July 1883
> New
> > > York Times:
> > >
> > >         Mr. James Hennessy offered a resolution that the entire body
> > > proceed forthwith to Newark and get drunk.? Then the Democrats charged
> upon
> > > the street cars, and being wafted into Newark proceeded, to use their
> own
> > > metaphor, to ‘paint the town red’.
> > >
> > > The second is an 1884 US Boston Journal:
> > >
> > >         Whenever there was any excitement or anybody got particularly
> > > loud, they always said somebody was ‘painting the town red’.
> > >
> > >
> > > US newspapers: a Kentucky origin
> > >
> > > Searching the Chronicling America newspaper archive, I found many
> examples
> > > from 1882 and 1883, before the OED's earliest July 1883. Most
> > > interestingly, all are from Kentucky papers. In 1883 and subsequent
> years,
> > > the term quickly spread to other states.
> > >
> > > Semi-Weekly Interior Journal (Stanford, KY) of March 10, 1882 says:
> > >
> > >         The Frankfort correspondent of the Louisville Commercial
> writes of
> > > the lobby at Frankfort: [...] He gets on a high old drunk with a
> doubtful
> > > old man, and they paint the town red together.
> > >
> > > The Bourbon News (Millersburg, KY) of April 11, 1882 says:
> > >
> > >         Nicholasville has an organization known as the "Dirty Dozen,"
> who
> > > has been daubing the town with red paint, in very unchristianable
> names.
> > >
> > > The Hartford Herald (Hartford, KY), September 13, 1882 describes the
> > > prelude to a drunken fight:
> > >
> > >         Last Saturday evening some of the boys from the country came to
> > > town and got on a regular high daddy and proceeded to paint the town
> red.
> > >
> > > Again, the Semi-Weekly Interior Journal (Stanford, KY), this time of
> > > November 10, 1882:
> > >
> > >         The boys wanted to paint the town red and jollify generally
> > > Wednesday night, but on account of the illness of Mrs. J. J. Williams,
> the
> > > fun was postponed.
> > >
> > > The Breckenridge News (Cloverport, KY), December 13, 1882 describes a
> > > "Shooting Affair at Leitchfield":
> > >
> > >         A young man of Grayson county named John Jay Hayrraft, who has
> so
> > > conducted himself of late as to render him any thing but a valuable
> > > citizen, rode into Leitchfield the other day, got drunk, and, as was
> his
> > > general custom, began to paint the town red.
> > >
> > > Again The Hartford Herald (Hartford, KY), this time of March 28, 1883
> says:
> > >
> > >         Several of Owensboro's young bloods painted the town red
> Saturday
> > > night.
> > >
> > > The Daily Evening Bulletin (Maysville, KY), June 22, 1883 has a story
> > > about "The Bad Boy":
> > >
> > >         "Well, I think the finest thing is that story about the
> prodigal
> > > son, where the boy took all the money he could scrape up and went out
> west
> > > to paint the towns red. Ge spent his money in rioutous living, and saw
> > > everything that was going on, and got full of benzine, and struck all
> the
> > > gangs of toughs, both male and female, and his stomach went back on
> him and
> > > he had malaria, and finally he got to be a cow-boy, herding hogs, and
> had
> > > to eat husks that the hogs didn't want, and got pretty low down.
> > >
> > > This particular story was re-printed in newspapers around the country.
> > >
> > >
> > > Dictionaries: The Wild West
> > >
> > > Early dictionaries say this was a cowboy phrase.
> > >
> > > The 1888 entry on Americanisms in the British Chambers's Encyclopaedia
> > > says (bottom left of page 228):
> > >
> > >         New slang arises rapidly, and is widely diffused with
> > > extraordinary speed. At one time the cant phrases of the western miners
> > > overran the country like wildfire ; at present, the dialect of the
> cowboys
> > > who ' paint the town red, ' reverberates from state to state of the
> Union.
> > >
> > > John S. Farmer's 1889 dictionary of Americanisms, Old and New also
> > > includes three 1888 citations:
> > >
> > >         TO PAINT THE TOWN RED. - To go on a drunken spree, and
> generally "
> > > to act the fool."
> > >
> > >         ' He stains the town incarnadine,'
> > >         The Boston maiden said.
> > >         The western maid remarked, ' You mean
> > >         HE PAINTS THE WHOLE TOWN RED."
> > >         - Washington Critic, 1888.
> > >
> > >         The flannel shirt is an excellent thing
> > >         To wear on a summer day,
> > >         And we don't object to the style at all-
> > >         But what we were going to say
> > >         Is,
> > >         That
> > >         A man who will wear a flannel shirt,
> > >         And hold up his pants with a sash
> > >         As RED as a TOWN that is PAINTED right,
> > >         Is the man that we want to smash.
> > >         -Washington Critic, 1888.
> > >
> > >         But as Lumpkin takes in the money he spends it like a Prince.
> > > After a big day's business he has been known to blow in one thousand
> > > dollars in a single night PAINTING THE TOWN RED. The result is that
> when
> > > the office is open for business the next morning the cash drawer is
> empty.
> > >         -New York World, 1888.
> > >
> > > John S. Farmer & W.E. Henley's dictionary Slang And Its Analogues Past
> And
> > > Present 1903 says:
> > >
> > >         To PAINT (or VARNISH) THE TOWN RED (or CRIMSON), verb. bhr.
> > > (American). See quot.
> > >
> > >         1889. Detroit Free Press, 9 Mar. PAINTING THE TOWN RED
> undoubtedly
> > > originated among the cowboys of western Texas, who, upon visits to
> frontier
> > > towns, would first become very drunk, or pretend to be so, and then
> mount
> > > their bronchos, gallop up and down the principal street, shooting at
> > > anything, and signifying their intention to PAINT THE WHOLE TOWN RED
> if any
> > > opposition to their origies was attempted. It was a mere extravagant
> threat
> > > : one constable could usually put the whole band in the calaboose.
> > >
> > >         1891. Harry Fludyer at Cambridge, 105. Now, do come ... to see
> us
> > > row. We've got a good chance of going head, and if we do, my eye,
> won't we
> > > PAINT THE WHOLE PLACE RED on Tuesday night !
> > >
> > >         1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Oct., 2, 3. He appears here as the
> > > typical Johnnie . . . whose aid is sought by young men who are
> desirous of
> > > PAINTING THE TOWN RED.
> > >
> > > The Queen's Highway From Ocean to Ocean (1887) by Stuart Cumberland
> > > describes his trip across Canada:
> > >
> > >         To 'paint a town red' is, I ought to explain, a Western
> > > expression, and signifies the height of reckless debauch ; and when a
> > > cowboy, having drunk his fill of whisky, has set daylight with revolver
> > > shots through the hats of those who have ventured to differ from him,
> and
> > > has smashed all the glasses in the drinking saloon with his
> stock-whip, and
> > > galloped with a wild whoop down the principal street to the danger and
> > > consternation of the inhabitants, he may fairly be said to have done
> his
> > > part towards painting the town red.
> > >
> > >
> > > Newspapers: Fireworks and bonfires
> > >
> > > But why paint the town red? Whether the source of the phrase or not, it
> > > was used soon after to describe fireworks and bonfires lighting up the
> sky,
> > > especially during the 1884 US presidential election.
> > >
> > > A November 7, 1884 edition of The Lawrence Journal of describes
> partying
> > > in Wichita, Kansas:
> > >
> > >         The excitement in this city for the past forty-eight hours has
> > > been intense; nothing like it was ever witnessed before, at least not
> in
> > > this city. The whole male population all day yesterday and again last
> night
> > > until past midnight filled the street in front of the Eagle office,
> > > singing, shouting and hurrahing, only ceasing a moment to hear
> dispatches
> > > read. To-night again the democrats attempted to paint town red with
> > > bonfires, music and fireworks. The demonstration had hardly concluded,
> when
> > > the republicans took it up, and now the noise is simply confusing.
> > >
> > > A June 7, 1884 New York Times mentions Chicago bonfires and drinking
> and
> > > parting in the same article as the phrase:
> > >
> > >         The streets are alive with crowds and bands of music and
> bonfires
> > > light up many of the broad avenues. ... A merry party of Massachusetts
> > > delegates dined at one of the tables in the Leland House, and drank the
> > > health of the head of the ticket in bumpers of champagne. ...
> > >
> > >         It is not to be expected that they will join in painting the
> town
> > > red to-night, for the packing of their wagon trains is readiness to
> return
> > > to the East is of far more important to them.
> > >
> > > Finally, an October 13, 1885 New York Times report on elections in
> > > Columbus, Ohio:
> > >
> > >         The enthusiasm is beyond anything witnessed here for years. The
> > > Republicans are painting the town red. Bands are parading the streets,
> > > bonfires burning, and fireworks exploding.
> > > These are clearly mainstream uses after the term has spread "like
> > > wildfire" from "the dialect of the cowboys". Bonfires, fireworks and
> cannon
> > > was fired in celebration, in addition to marching bands, singing,
> partying
> > > and drinking, and it seems likely journalists applied the already known
> > > phrase to a situation where both the sky was both painted red by fire
> and
> > > there was much drunken merriment. Some newspaper uses are just about
> > > boozing.
> > >
> > > Drunk cowboys might not light bonfires or fireworks to light up the
> sky,
> > > but perhaps they instead fired their guns into the air.
> > >
> > > ---
> > >
> > > Hugo
> > >
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> > >
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> >
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