[Ads-l] Fw: Antedating of "Jinx" (Noun and Verb)

Wed Feb 18 15:54:25 UTC 2026

Doug Wilson brought up "Jinks Hoodoo" on the list several times, e.g.:

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-April/048198.html
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-April/098272.html
https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-November/114060.html

In the 2010 thread, Jon Lighter took "Jinks Hoodoo" back to 1887 and also
mentioned "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines."

https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-April/098273.html

On Sat, Apr 10, 2010 at 3:42 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Jinks Hoodoo again
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> An earlier ex. of "Jinks Hoodoo":
>
> 1887 _St. Louis Globe-Democrat_ (Oct. 10) 6: George Woodward as _Dr.
> Savage_, J. W. Summers as _Jinks Hoodoo_, and Bob Fraser as _Slaggers_ [or
> perh. "Sluggers"- JL].
>
> This comes from a review of a comedy called _Little Puck_, which later
> played in Brooklyn in 1888 and on Broadway in 1890. It starred Frank
> Daniels
> as "Packingham Giltedge." Acc. to the _Daily Inter Ocean_ (Chicago) (Sept.
> 20, 1887), the play premiered in Buffalo, N.Y., on Sept. 18, 1887.
>
> Acc. to the _Atchison Daily Champion_ of Dec. 23, 1885, "Bronson Howard has
> written a new play for Frank Daniels. It is called 'Little Puck' and is of
> the 'Rag Baby' order."
>
> _Little Puck_ was allegedly based on the novel, _Vice Versa_, by the
> English
> novelist Frank Anstey. A search of a reprint at Amazon.com finds no exx. of
> either "jinks" or "hoodoo" in Anstey's novel. GB offers no text of either
> the novel or the play.
>
> Regardless of OED/HDAS _jynx_, the name of "Jinks Hoodoo" is likely to have
> been the immediate origin of the modern _jinx_. Howard may have been the
> first to associate the name "Jinks" (cf. "Captain Jinks of the Horse
> Marines") with the word _hoodoo_.  It seems that the name eventually came
> to
> denote the concept by metonymy (or is it synecdoche?).
>
> JL

On Wed, Feb 18, 2026 at 9:29 AM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

>
> When I posit "Jinks Hoodoo" as the direct etymon of "jinx," I am not
> necessarily saying that "Jinks Hoodoo" is the ultimate etymon.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Rich
> Lowenthal <000018596069864c-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 9:06 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Jinx" (Noun and Verb)
>
> Is there a connection with the post-Civil War song "Captin' Jinks of the
> Horse Marines," first published 1868? Jinks is a rather incompetent
> soldier, whose name could easily be associated with curse.
>
> More on the song at
> http://www.liucedarswampcollection.org/template1/jinks.html
>
> The full lyrics can be found at
>
> https://mnheritagesongbook.net/the-songs/addition-song-without-recordings/captain-jinks-of-the-horse-marines/
>
> Rich Lowenthal
>
>
> ------ Original Message ------
> From "Shapiro, Fred" <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date 2/18/2026 08:40:53
> Subject Re: Antedating of "Jinx" (Noun and Verb)
>
> >Garson O'Toole's 1900 citation for "jinks" is a great find.  The OED's
> etymology for "jinx" from a 17th-century term "jynges" meaning "A charm or
> spell" seems improbable.  The following two citations provide a clear
> etymon, the name of a character in a play..
> >
> >1888 New York Daily Tribune 18 Jan. 4/6 (Newspapers.com)  "Little Puck,"
> in which Mr. Frank Daniels presents himself at the Fourteenth Street
> Theatre [has] the following cast. ... Jinks Hoodoo, esq., a curse to
> everybody. ... Harry Mack.  [The last ellipsis marks are in the original
> text.]
> >
> >1895 Hawaiian Gazette 19 Mar. 2/4 (Internet Archive)  We had a fellow
> passenger named Ficke ... He had a tip that the vessel would never reach
> San Francisco, and when questioned about the matter he would not give a
> satisfactory explanation for his strange feeling. ... At the time when the
> smoke was discovered most of the male passengers were in the smoking-room
> trying to "do"one another out of a dollar at the classic game of "cinch."
> When they heard of the ship's escape the winners were glad and the losers
> declared that Mr. Ficke was a genuine "Jinks Hoodoo."
> >
> >"Hoodoo" was a nineteenth-century African American spiritual tradition.
> >
> >Fred Shapiro
> >
> >
> >________________________________
> >From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> ADSGarson O'Toole <00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2026 8:45 PM
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >Subject: Re: Antedating of "Jinx" (Noun and Verb)
> >
> >There have been threads antedating jinx (noun and verb) posted to this
> >list in the past, but these new citations appear to present further
> >progress. Here are two links to previous posts:
> >
> >https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2022-August/161943.html
> >https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2022-August/161937.html
> >
> >Garson
> >
> >On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 8:28 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
> ><adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>  Excellent citations, Fred. Following your lead I found the phrase "Had
> >>  the Jinks Put on Him" in a headline, and the phrase "she'd put the
> >>  jinks on him" in the body of an article in November 1900.
> >>
> >>  Date: November 14, 1900
> >>  Newspaper: The Examiner
> >>  Newspaper Location: San Francisco, California
> >>  Article: TROUBLES OF DAN HOWSER Had the Jinks Put on Him and Then Went
> >>  Down the Line
> >>  Author: Joseph S. Jordan
> >>  Quote Page 3, Column 4
> >>  Database: Newspapers.com
> >>
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-jinks/191552875/
> >>
> >>  [Begin excerpt]
> >>  "Venus sang a song to get the house in good humor. I think Tony said
> >>  it was 'Don't You Go, Danny, Don't Go.' But Danny wouldn't stand for
> >>  it. He said he had to get out and find out how the election went, and
> >>  she told him if he pulled his freight she'd put the jinks on him. He
> >>  threw out his chest and sang: 'What the Well Do I Care; What the Well
> >>  Do I Care!'
> >>  "Then she put the hoodoo on him and threw herself at the couch.
> >>  [End excerpt]
> >>
> >>  Garson
> >>
> >>  On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 6:56 AM Shapiro, Fred
> >>  <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> >>  >
> >>  > jinx, n. (OED 1911)  1903 San Francisco Chronicle 11 Dec. 4/2
> (Newspapers.com)  Jockey C. Kelly thinks that the "jinks" are on him.
> >>  >
> >>  > jinx, v. (OED 1917)  1904 Los Angeles Daily Times 10 Nov. Part II,
> Page 3/1 (Newspapers.com)  The team has had so many misfortunes this season
> and the players have been fined so much by Dugdale and jinksed so much by
> incompetent managers that started out to win the penant [sic] without
> knowing how to manage ball players, that there is small wonder the men
> don't play their heads off to snatch a game when they can.
> >>  >
> >>  > Fred Shapiro
>

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