[Ads-l] "no great shakes" (1804)

[Laurence Horn]

That must have been one memorable match between the two geldings, No Great
Shakes and Worse and Worse.  Evidently there was no record of any of the
former's 18th century ancestors racing under the moniker Great Shakes.

LH

On Sun, Sep 14, 2025 at 8:00 AM Ben Zimmer <
00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> "no great shakes" (OED2 1819)
>
> Hull Packet, Oct. 9, 1804, p. 4, col. 4
> The match for 25gs. each, p.p. one mile, between Mr. Cooper's br. gelding,
> No Great Shakes, and Mr. Hincks's bay gelding, Worse and Worse.
>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hull-packet-and-east-riding-times-n/181029750/
>
> (Further proof of Shapiro's Law that everything starts out as the name of a
> racehorse.)
>
> --bgz
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org