[Ads-l] Antedating of "Blue Note"

Sat Jul 5 21:43:34 UTC 2025

Yes, Fred. Let's call it even. All from Newspapers.com:

1892 _Oakland [Calif.] Times_ (Jan 14) 1: His unpardonable sin is
Leachery [sic] - consorting with the yellow dog of journalism in open and
notorious cohabitation.

1893 _Wilkes-Barre Record_ (Dec. 27) 4: As an example of "yellow dog"
journalism, it certainly takes the linen off the shrubbery.

1895 _Daily Sun_ (San Bernardino) (June 21) 2: YELLOW DOG JOURNALISM.

Etc., etc.

2019 _Longview [Tex.] News-Journal_  (Oct. 3) 4A: The media is hurting
America with this constant stream of fake news....Years ago it was called
"Yellow Dog Journalism."

2024 _The Tribune_ (Grand Haven.Mich.) (Apr. 2) A3: Most people seem to be
caught up in mass media lies....[I]t is yellow-dog journalism!

JL

On Sat, Jul 5, 2025 at 4:48 PM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> The phrase "yellow dog of journalism" is found as early as Oakland Morning
> Times, Jan. 14, 1892, perhaps this is what Jon is referring to.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> Sent: Saturday, July 5, 2025 4:45 PM
> To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Blue Note"
>
> I promised I would never doubt Jon Lighter again, but I don't think that
> the term "yellow journalism" antedates the first appearance of the "Yellow
> Kid."  I believe that the "Yellow Kid" originated in 1895, and that the term
> "yellow journalism" is found earliest in the New York Press, Jan. 31, 1897
> (this is the OED's first use, contributed to them by me).
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Saturday, July 5, 2025 12:18 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Blue Note"
>
> "Yellow," of course, has long meant 'afraid; cowardly.'  This, however, is
> a narrowing of an earlier nuance, 'having a despicable character or
> nature.'
>
> Hence both "'yellow' clarinet" and "yellow journalism."  (The letter phrase
> antedates the first appearance of the "Yellow Kid.")
>
> 1889 _Times-Picayune_ (N.O.) (Aug. 21) 3:  In fact, it is better to hiss
> [the umpire] than to hurl at him...such expressions as: "Say, cully, you're
> yellow," or "Gaff, that's rotten."  This is the acme of vulgarity.
>
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 5, 2025 at 11:33 AM Shapiro, Fred <
> 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for the clarification, Jon.  What does "yellow" mean in this
> > context ?
> >
> > Fred Shapiro
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> > Jonathan Lighter <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Sent: Saturday, July 5, 2025 9:39 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: Re: Antedating of "Blue Note"
> >
> > Surely a sour note:
> >
> > 1893 _L. A. Express_ (June 6) 8 [GenealogyBank]:  There was not a single
> > reminder of the insidious "blue" note or the shriek of the "yellow"
> > clarinet.
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Sat, Jul 5, 2025 at 9:26 AM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Possibly named merely for a note written on blue paper:
> > >
> > > [1893 _Salt Lake Herald_ (June 20) 5: Beaulah and Blue Note shot under
> > the
> > > wire, head and head, making a dead heat between them.]
> > >
> > > Not to be a wet blanket, but I read the U.C. "blue notes" as 'sour
> > notes,'
> > > not 'blues notes.'  Did Sousa ever employ "blue notes," esp. ep early?
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Fri, Jul 4, 2025 at 8:06 PM Shapiro, Fred <
> > > 00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > >> blue note (OED 1895 [10 Dec.])
> > >>
> > >> 1895 Examiner (San Francisco) 3 Nov. 8/1 (Newspapers.com)
> > >>
> > >> Everything about the game almost was yellow except the few blue notes
> > >> blown out by the U. C. Band when the musicians dallied with one of
> > Sousa's
> > >> marches.
> > >>
> > >> Fred Shapiro
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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