The Portland daily press., 1896-01-25
SOME WORD BIOGRAPHIES.
The History Of Few Verbal Waits That
Had Career of Usefulness
Baltimore Sun.)

Baltimore Sun.)
Mention has been recently made of the
disputed origin of the word "teetotal, -
claimed by two inventors, one living in
England and the other in America, and
each Of whom may have hit upon the
word independently and for the different
reasons assigned. TO such ourious-mind-
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-
litioally, is another which, like "tee-
total, " is of doubtful parentage. In the
which inS large cities we're 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 coterie
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 1T was
used in England long befo re The Duke
of Wellington in letter to friend in
1s45, deploring the increasing influence
Of popular agitation on the action of the
House of Parliament. said: ''Sueh is the
operation of the machine as now estab-
lished that no individual. be his charao-
ter, conduct in antecedent circumstances,
and his abilities what they may, can
have any personal influence in general -
We may have derived our term "the ma
chime from our old volunteer fire COM
pany days, but in Wellington's time
there were no fire companies exertine
any dolitioal influence.
That much overworked word acrank''
first gained universal vogue in oonneo-
tion with Guiteau's assassination Of
President 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 being to liken
the famous editor to the 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; it 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
akrank. +" The word "Dago, "now com
monty 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 rs we'll. The
word is a corruption of Diego" (James),
a common Spanish name.
Another word of incessant employment
in American speech is ''dude" with it's
faminine complement "dudine. This
NAV have come to us from the old Eng
iish word for clothes-''duds." in earlier
times spelled "dudes." Thackeray writes
of ons of his characters: 'Hor dresses
were wonderful, her bonnets marvellous,
Eevy women could boast such dudes. -
Shakespeare in ''The Merry Wives of
Windsor'' writes of "bucke of dudes''-
meaning basketful of clothes ready for
washing. It's present day literary cur
ranov dates from February 1876, when
tbe word appeared in Putnam's Maya
zine But a famous New York club
man. Mr.. Herman Oelrichs, claims the
credit of first starting 1T as a popular
term of contempt or ridicule for an over
dressed person. He claims that youth
of this type, who passed by the Union
Club windows with a minoing step, pro-
voked himself and another club man tc
hum together an accompaniment to the
youths walk. thus: "Du da, de, du du,
du de' and that he remarked, "Good
enough. Dude 10 the proper name fol