[Ads-l] wisecrack, 1905/6

Mon Jul 8 19:27:06 UTC 2024

1907 _Butte Evening News_ (July 15) 3 (Newspapers.com): Lyrics of a
Yeggman...I guess I know when skies are blue....I guess I crack as wise as
you.

1907 _Sioux City Journal_ (Sept. 10)  9 (Newspapers.com): Ignorant Ones
"Crack Wise."

Bonus diversion:

1908 _Tacoma Daily Ledger_ (July 13) 10 (Newspapers.com): GOLDIE WHEELER,
GIRL DETECTIVE ... Here was a girl 16 years old who was "cracking wise"
beyond her years....[S]he...can "crack" back as fast and correctly in the
slang of thieves and detectives as the best trained in those classes.

Lots more in HDAS I.

JL

On Mon, Jul 8, 2024 at 2:02 PM Emily Gordon <emdashes at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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