The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-02-21
POPULAR PHRASES.


ORIGIN OF SOME OF THE CATCH
WORDS THAT EVERYBODY USES
We Have Taken Some From the English
and Invented Very Many Ourselvss-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 the word independently and
for the different reasons assigned. To
curious minded persons who like to
know tho 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-
liticalIy, is another which, like "tee-
total" Is Of doubtful parentage. In the
days Of the old volunteer fire companies,
which in 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 in 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 in antecedent circum-
stances and his abilities what they may,
can have any personal influence in gen.
eral." We 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 in6u
ence.
That much overworked 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 be its inventor, to Horace
Greeley, the purpose Of it being to Iken
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 1t 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 we'll. The
word ia a 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-
ters: "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. It's
present day literary currency dates from
February, 1876. when the word appear
ed in Putnam Magazine. But famous
New York clubman, Mr.. Hermann
Oelrichs, claims the credit Of first start
ing 1t as popular term Of contempt or
ridicule for an overdressed person. He
claims that a youth Of this type who
passed by the Union club window with
mincing step provoked himself and
another clubman to hum together an ao-
compartment to the youth g walk, thus,
"Du, da, de, du du, du de-" and that
he remarked Good enough; dude 10
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 a new
meaning in 1877, but the original coin
age Of the term "By jingo" is quite
doubtful. In the Basque language the
word jingo 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 peo-
pie. But others believe the word is q
corruption Of st. Gingoulph. It is one
Of the oddities Of popular wordmaking
that the term "jingoism. as now used,
Is complete travesty Of the sentiment
OF the song from which 1t was taken. A
lingo, either in England or America. is
now set down as man spelling for
fight, eager for war at any cost. But the
original music ball song, with the lingo
chorus, expressed exactly the opposite
sentiments desire for peace. 1t began