[Ads-l] Antedating of "Wild West"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Interesting that the "wild west" was then in Louisiana.

But like other nearly imperceptible narrowings of general terms (e.g.,
"the Lost Cause"), I'd have to put this in brackets.  The poem's "wild
west" is largely uncleared woods and under-explored wilderness with a
few alligators. The latter-day "Wild West" is largely "wild Indians,"
cowboys, stampedes, cattle rustlers, and plenty of gunplay.

JL

On Sun, Aug 9, 2026 at 1:37 PM Shapiro, Fred
<00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> Wild West (OED 1833)
>
> 1824 The Pennsylvanian (Harrisburg) 10 July 3/2 (Newspapers.com)
>
> Far in the wild west our clarion sounded,
> The groans of the foe to our charges replied;
> The plains of New Orleans Old England astounded.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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