Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-02-22
POPULAR LAR PHI PHRASES.
ORIGIN OF SOME OF THE CATCH
WORDS THAT EVERYBODY USES.

and Invented Worry Many Ourseives-How
We Came to Adopt Some of the Phrases
Which Are In General Use.
Mention has been recently made Of
the disputed origin Of the word "tee-
total, claimed by two inventors, one
living in England and the other in
America, and each of whom may have
hit upon tic word independently and
for tie different reasons assigned. To
curious minded persons who like to
know the why's, whens and wherefores
of everything the origin of popular
catchwords and figures of speech is an
interesting subject.
The word machine, " as we use it po-
litically, is another which, like "tee-
total" is CT doubtful parentage. In the
days Of the old volunteer fire companies,
which i'll large cities were potent factors
in local politics, the phrase "to run
with the machine" came into common
use, and it meant that man SO spoken
of was identified with the political CO.
terie Of the fire company with which he
trained. The famous Boss Tweed began
his career III New York running with
the machine" as volunteer fireman.
Yet the term as we now employ it was
used in England long before. The Duke
of Wellington, in letter to friend in
1916 deploring the increasing influence
of popular agitation on the action of the
houses Of parliament, said: "Such is the
operation Of the machine as now estab-
lished that no individual, be his char
acter, conduct i'll antecedent circum-
stances and his abilities what they may,
can have any personal influence in gen
eral. Wo may have derived our term
"the machine" from our old volunteer
fire company days, but in the England
Of Wellington's time there were no fire
companies exerting any political infiu-
ence.
That much oyerworked word "crank"
gained universal vogue in connection
with Guiteau's assassination of Presi-
dent Garfield, but it was long before
that applied by the late Don Piatt, who
claimed to he its inventor, to Horace
Greeley, the purpose Of it being to |! ken
the famous editor to tho crank of hand
organ, which is forever grinding out the
Same old tunes. The word, as we have
now come to apply it, means much more
and worse. 1t implies condition Of
mind verging upon insanity, and this
has given rise to the erroneous notion
that it has its origin in the German
word "krank. "
The word "dago," now commonly
applied to I;alipns all over the country,
came originally from Louisiana, where
it at first referred only to people of
Spanish origin, but was later applied to
Italians and Portuguese as well. The
word is corruption of "Diego"
(James), which is common Spanish
name, San Diego being the patron saint
of tie Spaniards.
Another word of incessant employ
ment in American speech is dude,
with its feminine complement, "du-
dine. p" This may have come to US from
the old English word Tor clothes
"duds, in earlier times spelled
"dudes "
Thackeray writes of one of his churac-
ters: "IIer dresses were wonderful, her
bonnets marvellous. Few women could
boast such dudes. - Shakespeare, III
1.-The Merry Wives of Windsor, writes
of "bucke of dudes, meaning bas-
ketful of clio, les ready for washing. Its
present day literary currency dates from
February, 1876. when the word appear
ed in Putnam's Magazine. But a famous
New York clubman, Mr.. Hermann
Oelrichs, claims the credit Of first start
ing it as Il popular term of contempt or
ridicule for an oyerdressed person. He
claims that youth Of this type who
passed by the Union club window with
q mincing step provoked himself and
another clubman to hum together an ac-
compartment to the youth S walk, thus,
"Du, da, de, On du, du de, " and that
he remarked Good enough; dude is
the proper name for it, aud that thus
the word was born.
The words lingo and "jingoism"
are also Of disputed derivation. We all
know about the English music hall song
which set the word going with new
meaning in 1877, but the original coin
age of the term "By jingo!" is quite
doubtful. In the Basque language the
word lingo means God, and it is widely
believed that "By jingo" was form
of oath with which the Basque sailors
familiarized the English sailors and,
through them, all English speaking peo-
pie. But others believe the word is
corruption of St. GinGoulph. 1t is one
of tie oddities Of popular matchmaking
that the term 'jingoism, rs now used,
is complete traresty of the sentiment
of the song from which 1t was taken. A
lingo, either i'll England or America, is
wv set down as a man spelling for
mt, eager for war at any cost. But the
original music hall song, with the jingo
chorus, expressed exactly the opposite
sentimental desire for peace 1t began
with "We don't want to fight, " and its
fiercest war note was struck in the dec
laration that if they had to do what they
would rather not, they had plenty of
men, ships and money.
Speaking Of Brother Jonathan,
there is no doubt about its origin.
When General Washington went to Mas
sachusetts to take command of the Reyo-
lutionary army, he found great lack of
ammunition and other supplies. He
turned for aid to Governor Jonathan
Trumbull of Connecticut, and got it,
and in many emerg sncies of that period
he used the phrase, "We must consult
Brother Jonathan on the subject. " The
expression became nationally current,
and it stands as the American parallel
to "John Bull. Baltimore Sun.
A man that loves his own Preside, and
can govern his house without falling by