CJ word for "credit"

[David Robertson]

>From a letter of Father L.N. de St.-Onge to Father J.M.R. Le Jeune (May
27, 1892):

'There is one word which I admired in your first No. of the Kamloops Wawa;
it is jaw-bone; that is a capital expression for those fellows who try to
pay you with -- jaw-bone.  Let it prosper and live even in dear old
Chinook!'

--Dave R.




On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:28:12 -0600, Alan Hartley <ahartley at D.UMN.EDU>
wrote:

>> A simpler explanation now hits me, and it's surely right.  Have you ever
>> heard the old-fashioned slang word in English, 'jawbone'?  I looked it
up
>> in Webster's 3rd New International for confirmation.  It does
>> mean 'credit.'
>
>OED s.v. jawbone:
>
>3. Credit. N. Amer. (orig. Canadian) slang.
>
>1862 Times 21 Oct. 9/4 Individuals who, in digger's parlance, live on
>jawbone (credit). 1885 A. S. HILL From Home to Home 413 His ready money
>gone, he has nothing to live on but ‘jawbone’, i.e. credit. 1941 J.
>SMILEY Hash House Lingo 33 Jawbone, credit. 1970 New Yorker 31 Oct.
>130/3 A young Canadian..started this film on a small grant..and
>apparently finished it on jawbone and by deferring processing costs.
>1971 A. P. MCINNES Dunlevy 54 No jaw-bone credit is allowed and all bets
>must be matched with goods.
>
>Dict. of Canadianisms has nothing earlier.
>
>Alan

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