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ebb
Joined: 12 Jan 2006
Posts: 87
Location: USA
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 Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 7:34 am Post subject: Slang from the American Wild West |
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Can you untangle these? All still in common usage, metaphorically.
hired gun --
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outlaw --
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posse -- NB borrowed from Latin
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vigilante - NB -- borrowed directly from Spanish.
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trigger happy --
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showdown --
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quick on the draw --
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wearing a white hat/wearing a black hat --
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the cavalry is coming --
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riverboat gambler --
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"This is insolence up with which I will not put." Winston Churchill, upon reading a newspaper�s criticism of his having ended a sentence with a preposition.
"You can get more with a kind word and a gun, than with just a kind word." Al Capone. |
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Brian Boyd
Joined: 18 Oct 2005
Posts: 176
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
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| Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2006 9:05 am Post subject: |
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Don't forget 'saddle up', 'one horse town' and 'last chance saloon'
...all from the old west too.
Ebb - am I right in thinking you're a teacher, not a student?
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Comics for students ...
http://www.grammarmancomic.com
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advoca
Joined: 09 Oct 2003
Posts: 422
Location: Beijing
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| Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 12:47 am Post subject: |
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Correct. Posse is from Medieval Latin. It is a shortening of posse comitatus
Them hombres was mighty fine on their book learnin.
And don't forget corral (origin obscure but probably from African kraal.
And the little dogies (who know where that came from?).
And broncos, chaps, greenhorns, and tenderfoots (tenderfeet?)
Not to mention hornswoggling hornery crittur (Bush's opinion of Bremmer)
Yippee aye ay. |
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asterix
Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 1654
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| Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2006 10:52 am Post subject: |
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| And Boot Hill where a lot of them ended up |
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Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2006 11:49 am Post subject: |
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And:
Lasso
Tinhorn
Circle the Wagons
Homestead
Stake a Claim
The Back 40
Buckaroo
Sooner (O.U. team)
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper |
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obelix
Joined: 09 Feb 2003
Posts: 304
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| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 9:46 am Post subject: |
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Does anyone know why they are called "Sooners"?
Or why people from Ohio are called "Buckeye"?
Or why Florida and Texas (to name a couple) have those panhandles that look as if they should be part of the neighbouring states?
Mysteries of the USA to us foreigners. |
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bud
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 2111
Location: New Jersey, US
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| Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2006 12:12 pm Post subject: |
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Mysteries to most of us natives, too, I'd guess.
Other expressions:
Head them off at the pass.
Pardner (partner) |
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Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 9:27 am Post subject: |
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| obelix wrote: |
| Does anyone know why they are called "Sooners"? |
I can field this one.
During the Oklahoma land run, large swaths of land were confiscated (stolen) from American-Indian tribes (as punishment for siding with the Confederacy during the Civil War) and divided up into plots to be given to settlers. The land would be given out on a first-come first-served basis in the form a race or land run organized by the territorial government. On a specified day, settlers who wanted free land would line up, and on a signal would rush out to the territory to grab a claim stake, literally a flag with their plot ID #. They would then take this claim stake to a claims office to get registered as the new owner. Deadly fights would sometimes break out over the best bottom land with access to water.
But some people cheated by sneaking out ahead of the race to find the best land, suddenly appearing after the race with the claim flags. It was a dangerous practice since if caught it could get you shot. Such cheaters were called "Sooners" since they got out there sooner than everybody else. Originally it was a derogitory term. Calling someone a Sooner was like calling them a lying cheating sneak.
In 1908, the University of Oklahoma adopted the term "Sooner" as the name of its athletic team. Not long after that, the term lost its negative connotation, and in a quirky twist of linguistic evolution became an affectionate term of state pride.
How's that?
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| Or why Florida and Texas (to name a couple) have those panhandles that look as if they should be part of the neighbouring states? |
Oklahoma, Idaho, and Alaska also have panhandles. Heaven knows why (something having to do with the original territory spreading westward or wanting access to certain resources before the next state was formed).
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper |
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bud
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 2111
Location: New Jersey, US
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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That's great!  |
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obelix
Joined: 09 Feb 2003
Posts: 304
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks a lot, Bob. That's an interesting bit of history. |
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Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:56 am Post subject: |
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| obelix wrote: |
| Thanks a lot, Bob. That's an interesting bit of history. |
You're welcome. I got extended kinfolk there so I have some connection to the state history.
You can see something of the land race toward the end of the movie Far and Away.
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper |
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