[Ads-l] "queer phiz," collocation before quiz

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Gerald Cohen mentioned an article he wrote with Pascal Treguer about
"quiz" published in "Comments on Etymology". There is also a valuable
article about "quiz" currently available on Pascal's "Word Histories"
blog here:

https://wordhistories.net/2017/05/12/origin-of-quiz/

Pascal's article includes the intriguing citation dated June 19, 1783
in  "The Stamford Mercury" which Stephen mentioned. The article
connects "quizzes" to "quere phizzes". Pascal's article also notes
that on July 12, 1783 "The Caledonian Mercury" connected "quizzes" to
"queer phizzes".

I found a citation that might be relevant to tracing the evolving
meaning of "quiz" that is not listed in Pascal's article or Stephen's
message. The citation contains a song which links "quizzes" to
"sapience extreme".

Year: 1788 (Date not visible)
Title: Love in the East, or Adventures of Twelve Hours, a Comic Opera
as Performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. The Music Composed
and Compiled by Mr. Linley
Author: Thomas Linley
Publisher: Printed for S. A. & P. Thompson, London
Song title in Table of Contents: Content with a portion of plan common sense
Quote Page 57
https://books.google.com/books?id=7D-Zgzoa6tUC&q=quizzes#v=snippet&q=quizzes&f=false

[Begin excerpt]
The blessings of life in a plentiful shew, appear on the surface the
ills are below, let quizzes at college in sapience extreme, dive for
dregs to the bottom while I skim the cream, dive for dregs to the
bottom while I skim the cream.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Fri, May 10, 2024 at 10:36 AM Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
>
> Maybe relevant, supply brackets freely :
>
> 1748  "....what is called a queer phiz, occasioned by a long chin, an hook nose, and high cheek bones, rendered him on the whole a very fit subject for mirth and pleasantry."
>
> 1748 pic-nic OED
>
> ?1780 poz...quoz. OED
>
> 1780 1780 John Hope, Hope’s Curious and comic misellaneous works, started in his walks ... (HathiTrust) 261: But now it seems no longer odd;/For here thou say’st, my little quiz!/ (How could I read it in thy phiz?)
>
> 1783 "....a number of the Scholars [at Harrow] seeing that they were strangers, had gathered about them, calling them ludicrous names, such as bucks, bloods, and quizzes [quizzes in italics], which latter was explained by Mr. Bearcroft, as the cant word of the school for the year, being an abbreviation of the words [italic next two:] quere phizzes, and that the Defendants had pulled the hair of the Plaintiffs, spit upon them, and otherwise ill treated them..." Stamford Mercury, Thurs. June 19, 1783, p.3 col. 3
>
> 1795  "let us quiz/ His ugly phiz."
>
> 1797  queer phiz , The " wonder - wounded " multitude read Quiz !
>
> 1799 queer phiz
>
> 1802 "At length it was announced, that Pic-Nic, like Quoz, which was chalked some years ago on windows and doors, really meant nothing."pic-nic....Quoz." n Spirit of Public Journals (1803) vol. 6 197 OED (early claim of chalking a made-up word, later claimed for quiz)
>
> 1802 "...a very queer kind of quiz...so prim in his phiz." or 1800
>
> 1802 "Quiz is a kind of a sort of a word...A mixture of odd and queer..."
>
> 1802 " QUIZ . This cant word is frequently used as a substantive to describe a strange, out of the way character."
>
> 1807  queer phiz, ugliest Quiz
>
> 1813 "queer quiz!/ with psalm-singing phiz"
>
> 1822 queer phiz and idiot men
>
> 1823 queer phiz was such as might invite a quiz
>
> 1838 Sketches for Young Couples... by Quiz, Illustrated by Phiz. (When did Edward Caswall adopt the pen-name Quiz?)
>
> 1841 "Many years ago the favourite phrase (for, though but a monosyllable, it was a phrase in itself) was Quoz."C. Mackay, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions vol. I. 325 OED
> Stephen Goranson
> Durham, NC
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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