Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-02-28
POPULAR PHRASES.
ORIGIN OF SOME OF THE CATCH
WORDS THAT EVERYBODY USES.

We Have Taken Some From the English
and Invented Very Many OurseIves--IIow
We Came to Adopt Sumo of the Phrases
Which Are In General Use.
Mention has been recently made Of
the disputed origin cf the word "tee-
total, claimed by two inventors. one
living in England and the other i'll
America, and each of whom may have
hit upon the wOld Independently and
for the different reasons assigned. To
curious minded persons who like TO
know tho why's, whens and whcrelores
of everything tho 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 Of doubtful piuentage. I'm the
days of the old volunteer fire companies,
which in large cities We're potent factors
in local politics, the phrase "ta run
with the machine came into common
use. and it meant that man 50 spoken
of was identified with the political co.
terie of the fire company with which he
trained The famous Boss Tweed began
his career in New York running with
the machine" as volunteer fireman
Yet the term as we now employ it was
used in England long before 7 he Duke
of Wellington. IN Il letter to Il friend in
lS45 deploring re increasing influence
of popular agitation ON the action of the
4 4, 81,
operation of the machine as now estab-
lished that no individual he his char
aCter, conduct i'll anteCedent circum-
stances and his abilities what they may,
can have any personal influence III gen
eral. " We may have derived our term
1.-The machine from our old volunteer
fire company days but in the England
Of Wellington time there were no fire
companies exertine any political inf1u-
ence
That much overwOrked word "crank"
gained universal vogue in connection
with Guiteaus assassination Of Presi-
dent G arfield but it was long before
that applied by the late Don Patt, who
claimed to be its inventor. to Horace
Greeley, the purpose of it being to ken
the famous editor to the crank of hand
organ, which is forever grinding out the
Same old tunes. The word, rs we have
now come to apply it, means much more
and worse. 1t implies Il condition of
mind vergiug 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 Italians 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 the Spaniards.
Another word Of incessant employ
ment in American speech is "dude, "
with its feminine complement, "du-
dine. " This may have come to us from
the old English word for clothes
"duds," in earlier times spelled
"dudes. "
Thackeray writes of one of his charac-
tiers: Her dresses were wonderful, her
bonnets marvellous. Few women could
boast such dudes. - Shakespeare. in
THE Merry Wives of Windsor" writes
Of "bucke of dudes, " meaning bas-
ketful of clothes ready for washing. Its
present day literary currency dates from
February, 1876. when the word appear
ed in Putnam 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 overdressed person. He
claims that youth Of this type who
passed by the Union club window with
a mincing step provoked himself and
another clubman to hum together an ac-
compartment to the youth S walk, thus,
"Du, da, de. du du, du de, and that
he remarked Good enough; dude is
the proper name for it, -" and 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 1871, 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 jingol" was form
of oath with which the Basque sailors
familiarized the English sailors and,
through them, all English speaking PEG
pie. But others believe the word is a
corruption of St. 5ingOulph In is one