Slang-o-rama takes a break for: New Year's Bits and Pieces

 Since looking up Christmas song firsts was so fun last week, I thought I'd continue my Slang-o-rama break another week and turn my attention to New Year's trivia—musical and otherwise. So, without further ado, do you know:

1. When was the first New Year's celebrations (that we know of)?
2. What years was the NYC/Times-Square ball a "no show"?
3. What is the earliest recording of Auld Lang Syne?

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1. According to Britannica, the earliest known record of a New Year festival dates from about 2000 BCE in Mesopotamia, where in Babylonia the new year (Akitu) began with the new moon after the spring equinox (mid-March) and in Assyria with the new moon nearest the autumn equinox (mid-September).
2. Mental Floss lists 10 Facts about New Year's Eve, including the fact that the NYC ball drop was "missing in action" in 1942 and 1943. World War II was in full swing, and the army worried that the city's light displays would help German subs spot U.S. vessels in New York Harbor. So the Times Square ball drop was suspended for two years.
3. Auld Lang Syne, first put to paper by Robert Burns in 1788, was recorded by Emile Berliner in 1890 on a vulcanized rubber disc and played on a "toy" gramophone. It was recorded again in 1898 on a wax cylinder by the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition. (You can hear the very scratchy recording right here, at about 1:12 minutes.) Recording quality had vastly improved by 1910, in this rendition performed by Frank C. Stanley:

 

There are sooo many good recordings of this iconic New Year's Eve song. Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments! 

Personally, I feel it's either got to be sung with an authentic Scottish brogue or played on bagpipes...

Happy new year, to all!

Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Mafficking

How was your New Year's Eve? Did you go mafficking about when the clock struck midnight? I'll wager that many folks did (although I am long past that point and was more intent on sleeping the night through).

Now, let us dive into the mysterious word: mafficking...
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Mafficking is a most excellent bit of Victorian slang that, according to the Mental Floss blog post "56 Delightful Victorian Slang Terms You Should Be Using," means getting rowdy in the streets.

The origin of this word is fascinating as well. According to Merriam Webster:

 Maffick is an alteration of Mafeking Night, the British celebration of the lifting of the siege of a British military outpost during the South African War at the town of Mafikeng (also spelled Mafeking) on May 17, 1900. The South African War was fought between the British and the Afrikaners, who were Dutch and Huguenot settlers originally called Boers, over the right to govern frontier territories. Though the war did not end until 1902, the lifting of the siege of Mafikeng was a significant victory for the British because they held out against a larger Afrikaner force for 217 days until reinforcements could arrive. The rejoicing in British cities on news of the rescue produced maffick, a word that was popular for a while, especially in journalistic writing, but is now relatively uncommon.

I think it's a word that should be revived, don't you? 

Here's to a new year, a new decade, and a renewal of mafficking!

Here's to more mafficking in 2020!
Image by ktphotography from Pixabay

Christmas came early (Slang-o-rama takes a break)

My author copies of MORTAL MUSIC arrived earlier this month... yet another reason for me to celebrate the season.

And here, as a little gift to you, is a piece of music that features prominently in this most recent Silver Rush historical mystery. Sit back and enjoy!



Wishing you all a restful break this week. Slang-o-rama will return next Wednesday: the first day of a new year and a new decade.