[Ads-l] wisecrack, 1905/6

Tue Jul 9 15:16:10 UTC 2024

"To crack wise" is likely older, and "to crack a joke" older still. Last I
was reading on the topic, the main theory about Irish and Scottish Gaelic
*craic*, 'fun, enjoyable time, entertainment', was that it was an
appropriation of this jesting-related Early Modern English *crack*. It's
also one of the proposed origins of *Cracker* as a demonym of rural white
people from the southeastern US, especially Georgians and Carolinians
(whip-cracking, as livestock drovers, is an alternative proposal).

On Mon, Jul 8, 2024 at 12:27 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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."
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
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> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > sg
> > > > >
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