[Ads-l] wisecrack, 1905/6

Mon Jul 8 18:02:06 UTC 2024

Related, “crack wise”:

“Unlike stony political prisoners of the Soviet era — Alexander
Solzhenitsyn being the best known — Navalny and his crew project a
discordant kind of defiance by irony that really does bring Stewart or
Conan to mind. (Not to say an American comedian could endure — much less
crack wise in — a Russian prison.)”
—Virginia Heffernan, Substack post, Feb. 16, 2024
https://open.substack.com/pub/virginiaheffernan/p/if-they-decide-to-kill-me-it-means?r=ayt&utm_medium=ios

“The songs’ composers crack wise with literal-minded setups for each
number.”
—Ben Brantley, review of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” The New York
Times, January 12, 2014
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/13/theater/beautiful-the-carole-king-musical-at-sondheim-theater.html
<https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/13/theater/beautiful-the-carole-king-musical-at-sondheim-theater.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb>

I thought it was either archaic or an arch throwback, but it appears
(seemingly sincerely) in quite a few modern song lyrics.

And of course historically; of (University of Vermont, I think) fraternity
brother George O. MacQueen,

“It is hard to crack wise on Mac. He is a slippery eel and I might say sly
‘fox.’”
—Report of the Alpha Kappa Convention, 1921
https://books.google.com/books/about/Report_of_the_Alpha_Kappa_Kappa_Conventi.html?id=cQMTAAAAIAAJ

Wisecrack is also a *kind of person*, like a wiseacre:

“Sure, he’s a wise-crack, smokes, and drinks too much, but he cares for his
nephew’s well-being.”
—Ben Cahlamer, review of The Tender Bar, The Movie Revue
https://themovierevue.com/the-tender-bar-review-clooneys-warmth-and-heart-pour-life-lessons-affleck-and-sheridan-are-brilliant/

Food for thought:

Wisecrack/crack a joke/make a crack/crack up/crack a smile—are these all
references to how the mouth breaks the smooth façade of a face, as a
violent tap cracks an egg? Or is it all from the gaelic “craic”? From the
Wikipedia (sorry) entry for “cracker”:

The historical derivative of the word craic
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craic> and its meaning can be seen as far
back as the Elizabethan era
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_era> (1558–1603) where the
term crack could be used to refer to "entertaining conversation
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversation>" (one may be said to "crack"
a joke <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke> or to be "cracking wise
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crack_wise>") The word *cracker* could be
used to describe loud braggarts <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braggart>;
An example of this can be seen in William Shakespeare
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare>'s *King John
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_and_Death_of_King_John> (c.
1595)*"What
cracker is this same that deafs our ears with this abundance of superfluous
breath?"[10]
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28term%29#cite_note-10>

Because this post isn’t long enough, I also offer this amusing 2014
interview with Anne Curzan (whom I suspect is on this listserv) on all
manner of cracks:

https://www.michiganpublic.org/education/2014-08-31/cracking-wise-a-word-with-so-many-meanings

Many a wisecracker, of course, has had a crack-up.

On Fri, Jun 28, 2024 at 4:06 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 1897 _Fullerton [Neb.] Post_ (Aug. 27) 1 (Newspapers.com) :  "If the
> republicans had done anything for which they were sorry, and desired to
> apologize for, resolutions should be adopted." Such a wise crack as this
> seemed to lift the pervading gloom."
>
> A shrewd, not a snide, crack.
>
> 1903 _Ottawa [Ont.] Citizen_ (July 9) 3 (Newspapers.com) : SOME WISE
> CRACKS. Newark News. Accept a confidence and lose a friend. Money being the
> root of all evil, all men are rooters. Some men are born great. Others use
> billboards. [Etc.]
>
> A mix of wisdom and sarcasm
>
> 1904 _ Enquirer_  (Cincinnati)  (June 26)  (Color Section) 6:  We [owls]
> hand out the wisdom. Now that's a wise crack."
>
> The semantic development looks like "a shrewd remark" > "a would-be shrewd
> remark"  > "a sarcastic remark."
>
>  JL
>
> On Fri, Jun 28, 2024 at 5:48 PM Stephen Goranson <
> 0000179d4093b2d6-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Quite right. Thank you for the correction.
> > Another try, copyright 1904. NYC.
> > Bowery Life, by Chuck Conners. Unnumbered page.
> >
> > "Cut it out, Sis, an' lissen ter er wise crack."
> >
> >
> >
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bowery_Life/HwwPAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=crack
> > [
> >
> https://books.google.com/books/content?id=HwwPAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&imgtk=AFLRE7087Nhp-qXOeKzmJ9SQLAD2zESz8T7vTmesaiIyNqMpCiz01N6t1T95H_PkHIS_VPlvwQyGm6NifKWPlLWM13M3W0wy1x51kujW8HodxmvQtczpvbb0mEn1uAL__C6IAzHW9mU3
> > ]<
> >
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bowery_Life/HwwPAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=crack
> > >
> > Bowery Life<
> >
> https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bowery_Life/HwwPAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=crack
> > >
> > /
> > www.google.com
> >
> >
> > sg
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Friday, June 28, 2024 5:17 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: wisecrack, 1905/6
> >
> > Interesting lead, sg. The Google Books (GB) database can be confusing,
> > as you know.
> > GB sometimes combines two volumes into one volume. The phrases:
> > "wisecrack of the smart set" and "wise-crack has become" appear in a
> > 1929 book that has been appended to the 1906 book.
> >
> > Year: 1929 Copyright
> > Book Title: Adventurous America
> > Author: Edwin Mims
> > Page 13 and 143
> >
> > On Fri, Jun 28, 2024 at 4:48 PM Stephen Goranson
> > <0000179d4093b2d6-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > American Character, by Brander Matthews pub. NY,1906, from 1905
> > lectures?,
> > > p.13:
> > >
> > > "I cannot be satisfied with the attitude of the defeatist or the
> > futilitarian, nor can I believe that the wisecrack of the smart set is
> the
> > acme of human wisdom."
> > >
> > > Also, p. 143, "The wise-crack has become for many the height of
> wisdom."
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Character/UA2WY1GvV-oC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=wisecrack&pg=PA13&printsec=frontcover__;!!OToaGQ!oXXamOM_VO-91aCe2VIZHVrXs5sLmDN4NwBmh3T8MREfppVdY4togxWjti1dfxV64FaEjmMXdsXMnK_umdBBfBfb2Q$
> > >
> > >
> > > sg
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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