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Sometimes my mind makes some odd transitions, and today was one of those days. I was reading one of the many magazines to which I subscribe, when I began to think about blind. Nothing I was reading seemed a likely trigger, but there I was, thinking about blind. So I did some checking, and this week's Americanism is blind.
Well we all know of today's common uses -- window blinds, an inability to see, a hunter's blind, and so forth -- but how was blind used in the olden, golden days of yore? Some of what I found follows.
In poker, what we call the ante today was called the blind (Bohn, "Handbook of Games" 1850:383)
In baseball, what we now call a scoreless or shut out half inning was originally called "blinded" ("Ball Players' Chronicles," June 20, 1867, reported that after the Albany "Excelsiors gave their opponents a 'blind' in the first innings, the tables turned." On September 8, 1871, the "Cincinnati Commercial" reported that "The Chicagos were again blinded, Simmons being the last out by an expert catch of a hot liner by Schafer.")
In the late 18th century, shutters were called blinders (Bentley, "Diary I," 1790:187).
Hobos referred to stealing a ride on the mail car next to a train's engine as "beating the blinds" ("Chicago Record," July 14, 1893). A railroad car without any end doors was called a "blind baggage car" ("Daily Ardmoreite" [Ardmore, OK], Nov. 8, 1893).
Two last uses -- to go, so to speak: blind pig (slang for a place liquor is sold illegally -- 1887 Minn. Gen. Stats. Suppl. (1888) 248) and blind pigger (slang for the blind pig owner -- "New York Voice," Dec. 6, 1894).
Do you know of other uses of blind? We're all eyes, so write us and let us know of other uses.
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