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  • Was Al Horowitz a Confederate Sympathizer?

    From Quadibloc@21:1/5 to All on Fri Apr 16 01:56:26 2021
    The answer, of course, is no.
    But why on Earth would he be suspected of such a thing?
    The answer has to do with a very old slang term.
    In the online search in which I learned that it was from his
    writings that I had first heard that term, I've seen various
    theories of it's origin - a Swedish word meaning 'knockout
    blow', or a corruption of the word 'doxology'.
    The word is 'sockdolager'.
    It turns out that word was used in one context that may have
    lent it some infamy: within the punch line of a joke in a certain
    play... that led to the audience's laughter being loud enough to
    conceal the noise of a fatal gunshot.
    The play?
    'Our American Cousin'.

    John Savard

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  • From raylopez99@21:1/5 to Quadibloc on Thu May 13 08:08:01 2021
    On Friday, April 16, 2021 at 4:56:27 AM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
    The answer, of course, is no.
    But why on Earth would he be suspected of such a thing?
    The answer has to do with a very old slang term.
    In the online search in which I learned that it was from his
    writings that I had first heard that term, I've seen various
    theories of it's origin - a Swedish word meaning 'knockout
    blow', or a corruption of the word 'doxology'.
    The word is 'sockdolager'.
    It turns out that word was used in one context that may have
    lent it some infamy: within the punch line of a joke in a certain
    play... that led to the audience's laughter being loud enough to
    conceal the noise of a fatal gunshot.
    The play?
    'Our American Cousin'.

    John Savard

    Another question was if Paul Morphy was a Confederate sympathizer and whether this caused him to drop out of chess? Read this well researched book (if you can find a copy as it's out of print) "The Chess Players" by the noted writer Keyes.

    Good luck!

    RL

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  • From MikeMurray@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jan 27 08:02:51 2022
    On Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 8:08:03 AM UTC-7, raylopez99 wrote:

    Another question was if Paul Morphy was a Confederate sympathizer and whether this caused him to drop out of chess? Read this well researched book (if you can find a copy as it's out of print) "The Chess Players" by the noted writer Keyes.

    Good luck!

    RL
    I read that book in high school (and still have it somewhere) but it's fictional, especially the latter part dealing with his Confederate activities and his murdered sweetheart.

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