[Ads-l] Origin of "Dixey Land" (1844); Still no response from N.O. mayor on "Big Easy" and "Big Apple"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Another mention of the game "Dixey's Land" in NYC:

1860 _N. Y. Times_ (Aug. 15) 5:  Romps and games of all kinds were indulged
in [by children in Central Park] in after lunch. Tag, ball, marbles, blind
man's buff, hunt the slipper, Dixey's-land, I spy the Wolf and Where now
are the Hebrew children, enabled the children of larger and smaller growth
to spend the time agreeably and pleasantly until 6 o'clock, when joyfully
and happily they went home.

The pre-"Dixie's Land" existence of the "Dixey's land" game has long been
proven, not least by Barry Popik. Of remaining questions, the most
significant is why Emmett evidently adopted the name of the game as a name
for the American South.

 As for "I spy the Wolf":

1859 _Brooklyn Evening Star_ (Nov. 11) 3 [Newspapers.com]:  MIRACULOUS
ESCAPE. Last Saturday afternoon, about half-past five o'clock, while some
boys were playing "I spy the Wolf" at Lakeland Station, L.I., one of them
took to the well for a hiding place, when his hands slipped and he fell to
the bottom, a distance of 66 feet. He was...aged about fifteen years....Mr.
John Cole rescued him from his perilous position.

A detailed (and lushly romantic) explanation of the rules appeared in _The
Western Rural_ (Chicago), Oct. 14, 1869, p. 6 [Newpspapers.com]. The game
was a very elaborate variation of hide-and-seek.

According to the _Jersey City News_ (Dec. 29, 1902) 5 [GenealogyBank],
"every youngster has played" snap-the-whip and I-spy-the-wolf.


JL

On Sat, May 13, 2017 at 12:39 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Groundbreaking indeed (speaking as one who posted some other ditional
> material here a few years back.)
>
> I found no exx. of "Dix note" either.  Obviously someone's wild guess.
>
> It may be that Emmett heard the game term for the first time in some
> ambiguous context and misunderstood it as an idiom for the South. Nothing
> implausible about that, especially in the light of current evidence.
>
> But why "Dixey," in any case?
>
> Jon
>
> On Sat, May 13, 2017 at 12:45 AM, Barry Popik <bapopik at aol.com> wrote:
>
>> Good point! Thanks! I thought the construction of the sentence was worth
>> noting.
>> ...
>> Barry Popik (whose long-suffering wife deserves better this Mother's Day)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Christopher Philippo <toff at mac.com>
>> To: Barry Popik <bapopik at aol.com>
>> Sent: Sat, May 13, 2017 12:40 am
>> Subject: Re: Origin of "Dixey Land" (1844); Still no response from N.O.
>> mayor on "Big Easy" and "Big Apple"
>>
>> On May 12, 2017, at 10:28 PM, Barry Popik <bapopik at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> Google Books
>> <https://books.google.com/books?id=ayhEAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA45&dq=%22dixey+land%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGt-uU3uvTAhWHOSYKHX4NDZQQ6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=%22dixey%20land%22&f=false>
>> 1855, *The Opal* (Asylum, Utica, NY), Vol. 5, No. 2, pg. 45:
>> PARLOR SCENE, No. 3
>> (...)
>> *Miss C.* — " Those who go to Dixey's land must be Dixey's men."
>> *Miss J.* — " But when Dixey comes to our land, Dixey's not at home. Ah!
>> Home — here woman reigns as mother, daughter, wife, and to her kings submit.
>>
>>
>> The above sounds pretty similar to the game:
>>
>> I am on Dixie’s land, and Dixie isn't home.
>>
>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2007-November/075982.html
>>
>> The king of Dixie's Land endeavors to seize an invader, whom he must hold
>> long enough to repeat the words,
>>
>> Ten times one are ten,
>> You are one of my men.
>>
>> Newell, William Wells. Games and Songs of American Children. NY: Harper &
>> Brothers, 1883. 222.
>> https://books.google.com/books?id=eWnD-k71W2MC&pg=PA222
>>
>> See also http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/dixie/
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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