Search
Rural life, adaptation and 'hoosekow or gow'
Posted by Lotg on March 12, 2004
In Reply to: Precocious? posted by ESC on March 11, 2004
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : While there are many names for prison and jail here in the US and Britain, their reference origin is vague. Can anyone help out here or even add to the list?
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : in the joint
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : in the brig
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : in the calaboose
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : in the hoosekow (sp)
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : in the big house
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : up the river
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : in the slammer
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : put away
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Any and all input would be appreciated.
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : doing time
: : : : : : : : : : : : : stir
: : : : : : : : : : : : : pokie
: : : : : : : : : : : : : in the tank
: : : : : : : : : : : : : in the can
: : : : : : : : : : : : : clink
: : : : : : : : : : : :
: : : : : : : : : : : : : I appreciate the additions but can you help with the origins also?
: : : : : : : : : : : Jail/prison ? ?A 'jail' is typically a building, though it may be a lockup inside a police station, for the confinement of those who are awaiting trial or who have been convicted of minor offenses (misdemeanors). Local police departments usually administer city jails, and sheriffs? offices usually administer county jails. People convicted of major crimes (felonies) are likely to be confined in a 'prison' or 'penitentiary,' these words being used interchangeably.
: : : : : : : : : : : Another type of 'penal institution' (the generic term for all places of confinement for those adjudged guilty of a crime) is a 'reformatory,' or 'house of correction,' where juveniles convicted of lesser offenses are sent for training and discipline intended to reform rather than punish them. A penitentiary for women is sometimes called a 'reformatory' as well.?
: : : : : : : : : : : From "When is a Pig a Hog? A guide to confoundingly related English words" by Bernice Randall (Prentice Hall, New York, 1991).
: : : : : : : : : : : I will look in my other references this evening.
: : : : : : : : : : Jail or gaol -- From the L*tin "cavea," cave. By the 1640s the British, including our colonists, were using the "gaol" variant, but by 1776 the "jail" form was taking over in America.
: : : : : : : : : : Prison ? 11th century. Via French from L*atin "prehendere," to seize.
: : : : : : : : : : Penitentiary ? literally a place for penitents. American word dating from 1790, "when the Quaker state of Pennsylvania built a special cell block to separate more serious offenders from lesser ones?" "Pen" for short.
: : : : : : : : : : Workhouse - 1533 British term, first recorded in America in 1653.
: : : : : : : : : : The clink - 18th century term. Originally the name of a London jail. Became popular around 1918.
: : : : : : : : : : Calaboose - 1792 but didn?t become common until cowboys popularized it in the 1860s. From Spanish ?calabozo,? dungeon.
: : : : : : : : : : Reformatory - common after Elmira, N.Y., reformatory opened in 1807.
: : : : : : : : : : Jailhouse - 1812.
: : : : : : : : : : Jug - 1815, probably from Spanish ?juzgado.? Also "hoosegow," 1860s, cowboy term from same word.
: : : : : : : : : : Lockup - 1839.
: : : : : : : : : : Cooler - 1884. Originally a cell for "cooling off" drunks or violent prisoners.
: : : : : : : : : : Joint - Penitentiary. 1890s.
: : : : : : : : : : Big House - Penitentiary, especially Sing Sing, 1900.
: : : : : : : : : : Can - 1910.
: : : : : : : : : : Pokey - 1919. From "pogy," an 1891 word for workhouse or poorhouse.
: : : : : : : : : : Tank - 1920s. Fish tank, 1939. Large cell for holding suspects or new prisoners. "Fish" had meant newcomer since around 1900. Drunk tank, 1943.
: : : : : : : : : : The Rock - Alcatraz, 1930s. Located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.
: : : : : : : : : : Slammer, the slam - mid 1930s. Long before that the slammer was the underworld word for door.
: : : : : : : : : : Do time - 1860.
: : : : : : : : : : ALL OF THE ABOVE FROM: I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976).
: : : : : : : : : : UP THE RIVER ? "was originally an underworld term for a sentence in a reformatory or jail. It probably derives from the fact that New York State's most famous prison, Sing Sing, is 'up the river' from New York City." From Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988).
: : : : : : : : : Good job, ESC!
: : : : : : : : : Good shootin'.
: : : : : : : Thank you.
: : : : : : : : ::: back when it was possible to just get rid of somebody by sending them somewhere else instead of paying to put them behind bars, the solution was to send them to what they thought was a really undesirable place --- like the US or Australia (I guess) They would be sentenced to 'transportation'
: : : : : : : A thousand thanks to all! Your responses and knowledge are always appreciated.
: : : : : 'Jail' is a simplified spelling of 'gaol' as that word isn't very phonetic and was confusing, say, to Americans. that is only one step from text-spelling it as 'JL'.
: : : : A bit late, but a slightly different derevation.
: : : : If you're in jug then you're in prison. Why "jug"? This comes from the Scottish Jougs which was a pillory or, more properly, an iron ring fastened to a wall and used as a pillory. The name in turn derived from the Old French Joug (yoke). There is also a suggestion that the Mexican-Spanish word juzgado (prison), simplified by early English speaking settlers to jug, was the source. The Scots origin seems to outdate the Mexican.
: : : When I was a little kid reading Oscar Wilde, I remember thinking gaol was another word for jail, not just another way of spelling it.
: : You a little kid reading butch Oscar? what were your parents thinking of?
: : The Ballad of Reading Gaol is pretty powerful stuff - I recently looked it up.
: : I still had it on my machine :
: : (excerpt)
: : Yet each man kills the thing he loves
: : By each let this be heard,
: : Some do it with a bitter look,
: : Some with a flattering word,
: : The coward does it with a kiss,
: : The brave man with a sword!
: : Some kill their love when they are young,
: : And some when they are old;
: : Some strangle with the hands of Lust,
: : Some with the hands of Gold:
: : The kindest use a knife, because
: : The dead so soon grow cold.
: I lived in a rural area away from a library. So I read what I could get my hands on. Someone in the family had purchased one of those sets of classic books that included Mr. Wilde's work.
What a wonderful bonus. As an ex country kid myself, city people used to call us disadvantaged, yet somehow I could and still don't see it. And things that can be seen as limitations, such as limited access to libraries, were, and no doubt still are, adapted to advantage. I too read everything available to me for the same reason - and that was mostly what my grandparents had in their personal 'libraries'. So the stuff I read, was probably not contemporary at the time, but it was fantastic, broad and wonderful, and assisted me with a strong foundation in school and a wider view than many of my schoolmates had.
But back to the list of queries... I don't think anyone's explained 'hoosekow'. And it's a word I've never heard before.
I couldn't find 'hooseKow', but I found 'hooseGow', which appears to be a slang term for jail. Merriam-Webster says this:
"Spanish juzgado panel of judges, courtroom, from past participle of juzgar to judge, from Latin judicare"
And Encarta says something very similar:
"hoose·gow [ hss gòw ] (plural hoose·gows)
noun
jail: a jail ( slang )
[Early 20th century. From Mexican Spanish jusgado , from Spanish juzgado , "courtroom," from the past participle of juzgar "to judge," from Latin judicare (see judge).]"
But what I find a bit strange is that both definitions refer to judgement or the courtroom, rather than actual 'jail', so I'm curious to know how it evolved into a slang word for jail. Any ideas?
