The sun., 1905-09-13
PATHOLOGICAL.

The Hon. LAWRENCE Y. SHERMAN,
Lieutenant-G Governor Of Illinois, has
permitted himself to say this OF two
brother statesmen, one Of them q Senator
in Congress, the other former Governor
who would be Senator:
"A contest between cuIloM and YArHs would
be a nght between an antique and q dub"
We are not concerned about the polit-
ical, moral or psychological descriptive
accuracy Of this comparison. 1t is
enough to say that the Hon. SHELBY
MOORE CULLoM was not born yesterday,
as all the young and all the medieval
politicians Of Illinois learned long ago,
sometimes to their cost. Nor need the
world beyond Illinois distress itself to
inquire whether the Hon. RICHARD
YATES is or ia not dub" The inves-
tigation which now stirs the learned OF
the Middle and Far West Is: What Is a
"dub'1 Even New Orleans forgets the
fever and communicates through the
Times-D Democrat this theory Of the origin
Of q singularly muscular word:
"The Century Dictionary says dub is
'db,' and explains what dib Is by dropping
into the verse of Rejected Addresses =
-'pray, come with more cash In your pocket;
Make nunky surrender bis dibs.'
-The word is said to be used In this sense. some
what restricted, In india. dub there meaning .
sum Of money-presumably about thirty cents"
This is jesting with scientific SUBJ
ject. Other theories have occurred or
will occur. Is dub an adaptation OF
provincial English dub foul, stag
nant pool, and therefore in a tropical
sense a muddled, muddyEeaded, soft
headed, slow Drained person? Fascinat-
ing, but perhaps too obvious solution.
Is dub child Of dub to strike, a
brother or cousin Of the last syllable OF
"rub-a-dub," and expressive therefore
Of noisy, empty person? Respectfully
submitted. A "dub" is usually but not
always vociferous. Ths solemn, silent
dub" is an existing II comparatively
rare variety. Still the dub proper
is communicative. May not the word
come obecurely from -dubber,' word
Of art for the mouth as il the classic
phrase, "mum your dubber,' that is,
hold your tongue, shut your mouth?
Observe also the opposite phrase,
dub your mummer,' open your moth.
A dub is properly a key, gracious
synonyms whereof are betty BLACK
smiths daughter 'gilkes" skeleton
keys). Now, "gilkes' would be hon
ored by the corporation Of st. NlcHo-
LASS clerks, and they even condesoended
to call themselves adubbers" at times.
But 4dubs,' the turnkey, was necessarily
in bad odor, and more or less con-
temptueus connotation would creep in
by that door. Observe, also. the re-
grettable confusion in the use Of this
elegant verb to "dub' "Dub the
jigger," which ought to mean 'open the
door" came to mean likewise shut the
door" Thus -dub,' as both open
and shut, is a person weak, uncertain,
amorphous, credulous, to some extent
replica Of "an easy mark This sense
is corroborated by dub up" to fork
over" Thus many roads lead dub" to
it's present site in the vocabulary Of
statesmen.
1t is one Of the numerous pathological
services of Prof. DEvERY, head Of the
sociological department Of La Pompe
University, to have thrown this short,
sharp tomahawk of word at the heads
OF his enemies. If they have overthrown
him, at least the word Of immortal tenn
per keeps it's honored place in the arrno-
ries OF English speech.
What is a dub? Ask tho Professor.
As mere amateurs we are not justified
in saying more than that dub" is the ac-
tive Of which "chump" is the passive.