The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1896-08-08
.vvlbo0aux 5cntincl.
POPULAR PHRASES.
ORIGIN CT SOME OF THE CATCH
WORDS THAT EVERYBODY USES.
Have Taken seVe From the English
and Invented Very Manv orrselves-Hou
We Came 10 Adept Some Of the Phrases
Which Are In General Use.

Mention las hecu recently made Of
the Gisrated origin Ct tie word .'tee-
%total.' claimed hy two inventors, ore
living in England and the ether III
America. end oaoh Of whcn may have
Gs uEca ihc wocd independently aud
for the different reasons ASSIGNED. To
curious minded persons who like to
know tho why's, whons and yherefr IS
Of everything tAe origin CT pona.ar
catehwcrds and figures Of specc!. is IN
Interesting subject.
The word "machine,'' IS we use it nc
ii::cally. u another which, like .stee-
to.ai," is Ct doubtful rarontare. II the
caysof the cid volunteer fire companies,
which in largo cities were potent factors
ii lccal rGlit;cs. the phrase .'to run
with the nac.ine'' came into common
use. anC Il iieant that q nan SO spoken
ct was identifies With TIE political CO.
teiie OF tho fire company with which lie
trained. The famous Boss Tweed began
his career II New York running with
tie rachiae" as q volunteer fireman.
let tic term as we GOV employ it was
Used ii England lcas t,fo-e. The Duke
CT Wellington, il a letter to a friend ia
lsao depso~s2g tic increasing influence
CT popular agitation on the action of tie
houses CT parliament, said: ..Snch is tile
operation G. tho machine as now estab-
hsled that nc individual, be his char
ac'er, conduct Ill GIteeedent circun-
stances and his abilities what they NAV,
can lave acy personal influence in gen
eral." We may have derived our term
"the machine from our cid volunteer
fire company days, but il the England
OF Wellington S time there were no fire
companies exeEting any political infu-
ence.
That mnch overwcrked word ttcrank''
gained universal vogue in come. ion
with Gulteaa's assassination Of Presi-
dent Garfield, but it was long before
that applied by the late Don Piatt. who
Claimed to be its inventor, to Horace
Greeley, the purpose Of it bei.g to l;ken
the famous editor to the crank of a hand
organ, which Is forever grinding ,ut the
Z old tunes. The word, as we have
now come to apply it, means much more
Ne %-rN ~ A-Gp4lC d CCUu1t1sBu VI
mind versing upon insanity, and this
given rise to the 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 f-o-' Louisiana, where |
1t at first referred only to people Of
Spanish origin. hut was later applied to !
Italians and Portuguese as we'll. The
word is a corruption of "Diego"
tJames). which is n 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 as from
the old English word tor clothes
"ouds," in earlier times spelled
dudes"
~Ihackeray writes of one of his charac-
tiers: "Her dresses were wonderful, her
bonnets marvellous. Few women could
boast such dudes" Shakespeare, in
1.-THE Merry Wives of Windsor" writes
of a "bucke of dudes" meaning a has,
ketful of clothes ready for washing. Its
present day literary currency dates from
February, 1876. when the word appear
ed in Putnam's Magazine. But q famous
New York clubman, MIR. Hermann
Oelrichs, claims the credit Of fsst start
ing it as a popular term Of contempt or
ridicule for an overdressed person. He
that q youth of this type who
passed by the Union club window with
a mincing step provoked himself and
clubman to hum together an ac-
compartment to the youths walk, thus,
'Du, da, de, du du, du de-" and that
be remarked GOOD enough; dude is
proper name for it., and that thus
the word was born.
The words lingo and "jingoism"
are also OF disputed derivation. We all
about the English music nall song
which set the word going with a new
meaning in 1877. but the original coin
age of the term "By jim go" is quite
doubtful. In the Basque language the
word lingo means God, and it is widely |
believed that "By lingol' was a form
of oath with which the Basque sailors /,
the English sailors and,
through them, all English speaking peo- :
Pile. But others believe the word is a
corruption of st. G~ingoulph. It is one ]
IT the oddities Of popular Matchmaking
hat the term ''jingoism.'' as now used,
g = complete travesty Of the sentiment :
If the song from which it was taken. 4 !
lingo, either in England or America. is
set down as q man spelling for q
light. eager for war at any cost. Bat the /.
'rlginal music hall song. with the lingo :
.h0rnS QYproScaa oxoo&l- &lo-a>--s-