“In a New
York minute” is an expression that refers to the fast pace of life in the Big
Apple.
The
expression’s roots can be traced back to the 1820s, but not to New York
City. The “York” in the original
expression, “in a York minute,” referred to York, the capital of Upper Canada. The “Town of York” officially changed its
name in 1834, reverting back to the original First Nation’s place name – Toronto.
A “York Minute”
The earliest
examples of the idiom in print were recorded by British travelers or emigrants to
the United States and Canada illustrating the colorful manners and language of
the local rustics for their British readership:
Thus we call the capital of Upper Canada York, because there
is a York in England; and as this
metropolis is not of very great extent, and very likely never will be, it is
termed Little York. Mr. Gourlay, for political reasons, conceives
it to be very properly named, and plays away on the subject with considerable
humour. A York shilling not being as large as a British one, tends also to
detract from the importance of the place.
It is a saying with the Americans, when they set about doing any thing
quickly, “that they will do it in a couple of York minutes,” time being even
considered of less moment at Little York than elsewhere.
Toronto was the Indian name of this place, which means the “Hut
by the Lake.”
John
Mactaggart, Three Years in Canada: an
account of the actual state of the country in 1826-7-8, London, H. Colburn,
1829, Volume 2, page 359.
In a tavern
in St. Catharine’s Ontario:
By the time they have all taken a “drink” or two a-piece, and
swallowed a mouthful of water after it, you will hear “guessing” and “calculating”
enough, undoubtedly, and something better, “I don’t think!” Be careful they do
not tread on your toes at this time, and if you wish to retain a seat, do not
get up from it even for a “York minute.”
Joseph
Pickering, Inquiries of an Emigrant; being
the narrative of an English farmer from the Year 1824 to 1830; during which
time he traversed the United States and Canada, with a view to settle as an
emigrant, London, E. Wilson, 1831, page 93.
In a tavern
in Albany, New York:
Here, as in most of the large towns of the States, is a
prevailing custom among the trades-people, and others resident in the town, of
dining at the Tavern, from which custom the ladies are by no means exempt; the
dinner hour is generally one o’clock, and is announced by the ringing of a
bell, something like the custom in many of our small towns in England, on a
market day; to assemble the farmers to the market
table – In an instant you will find them assembling from all directions,
and with a magical quickness that
would remind you strongly of the wand of an Ella,
or a Bologna, the company are seated
to dinner; the ladies generally grouping themselves at one end of the table:
the operation of dissection immediately commences, and in
the space of something like a “York
minute,” very many of the chickens, and other delicacies, will have
performed a transit to the plates of
the surrounding assailants, while the “Apple-sauce’
and “long sauce” will be making their
evolutions and revolutions in every part of the table.
Anonymous
Canadian Settler, The Emigrant’s
Informant, or, A Guide to Upper Canada: containing reasons for emigration, who
should emigrate, necessaries for outfit, and charges of voyage, travelling
expences, manners of the Americans, London, G. Cowie, 1834, page 50
(italics in original).
In early
1834, legislators in Canada took action that would ultimately obscure the
origin of the idiom:
– By accounts recently received from Upper Canada, it appears
that the Legislative Assembly of that province has passed a Bill altering the
name of their provincial capital from “Town of York” to “City of Toronto.” . .
. All newspapers, letters, &c. are
now dated Toronto; and those who may have transactions with the capital of
Upper Canada are now to address – “City of Toronto, late York.” – Cor. Of the Ayr Observer.).
“York (Upper
Canada) Is No More,” The London Observer,
May 25, 1834, page 4.
The decision
was not unanimous:
Renaming York as Toronto angered
some provincial legislators. During a March 1, 1834 debate in the assembly,
detractors like William Jarvis claimed the change would cause confusion. John
Willison felt it disrespected the memory of the most recent Duke of York, and
pointed out that neither the state nor the city of New York had changed its
name. Proponents of Toronto pointed out the name’s aboriginal origins and its
meaning, which was then believed to be “meeting place,” and so was well suited
to the seat of provincial government. Some legislators, such as William Berczy,
felt Toronto rolled off the tongue better than York (“the sound is in every
respect better”).
The idiom survived the name-change. The next earliest example of “York minute” I could find was also from western New York. An advertisement for a merchant promised:
In short, we are ready for trade, and we say to all, Give us
a Call; and will satisfy you in a “York minute” there’s no use in looking any
farther.
Penn-Yan Democrat (Penn Yan, New York),
May 15, 1849, page 3.
But wherever
it originated and whatever its original intent, it was not geographically confined
forever, and would ultimately give way slowly to a “New York minute”:
The Daily Milwaukee News (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), December 29, 1858, page 1. |
Although most
of the early examples of “a York minute” seem to refer to something done
quickly, an example from Buffalo, New York explains, consistent with the 1829
definition, that a “York minute” is not necessarily faster than a normal
minute, but merely imprecise, which could, I suppose, be shorter or longer:
“There is one portion of the day,” as your correspondent vedry
justly remarks, “which may, with propriety, be called the ladies’ hour. Just so.
That “hour,” however, is to the day, what the “York
minute”[i] is to the ordinary
hour; viz: two hours and a half.
The Buffalo Commercial (Buffalo, New
York), November 24, 1860, page 3.
Some of the bloods who were out on New Year’s business Monday
night went to Gilman’s Hall at 4 o’clock yesterday morning, and one of them who
met two Germans in the passage with a boy who had received an injury to his leg
in the Hall, took hold of the wounded limb and gave it a twist. Although it was fun to the blood it was
painful to the boy; his guardians stood upon the defensive, and both sides went
to work “from the shoulder.” If any body supposes this transaction did not bring a crowd together in two York minutes . . . .
Hartford Courant (Hartford ,
Connecticut), January 2, 1861, page 2.
Hartford Courant, February 12, 1861, page 2. |
Over time, as
collective memory of the York, Upper Canada origins of the expression faded,
the expression slowly became associated with a better known “York” – New York
City.
The earliest
example of “New York minute” appeared in 1870.
A man who discovered a “catamount,” or wildcat, under his bed had his pajamas
ripped to shreds:
Hastly rising he jarken on his unmentionables, and, dropping
on all fours, began to claw beneath the bed after the midnight intruder. He found it, and in
one-fourth of a New York minute all the clothes there were upon him would not
have made a bib for a china doll.
The Post (Middleburg, Pennsylvania), September
15, 1870, page 1 (crediting the Titusville
(Pennsylvania) Herald).
Interestingly, a
partially copycatted article published three years later replaced the original “New
York minute” with “York minute.” But perhaps it was inevitable, as this story originated near Ontario in northern New York. A “North
Woods” trapper near Sacondaga Lake, New York came face to face with a black
panther in a tree – he had a gun, but it didn’t stop the cat from ripping his
clothes to shreds:
Had David quietly backed out, he could have enjoyed his
supper of venison and pancakes. But no,
he raised the old rifle and fired. In one-fourth of a York minute, Bill Stewart’s exact time
for skinning a Montezuma bullhead, all the clothes upon
him would not have made a bib for a china doll.
New York Times, December 31, 1872 (crediting
the Auburn (New York) Advertiser, December 28, 1872).
Numerous
other examples of “York minute” appeared in print in American newspapers
throughout the 1870s, ‘80s and ‘90s, but very few examples of “New York minute”.
Before 1870,
the expression was generally confined to the northeastern United States. But both the 1870 catamount story and the
1872 black panther story were reprinted in numerous newspapers across the
country. The wide circulation could have
helped spread the idiom in both of its forms.
I found one,
isolated instance in 1872:
The Osage County Chronicle (Burlingame, Kansas), February 29, 1872, page 3. |
There is another possible, isolated instance from 1890, although the circumstances were
such that it is not clear whether it is the idiom, or a literal reference to
two minutes spent in New York City. In a
story in The New York Sun, a man mistakenly
put his cigar into his pocket instead of his handkerchief; he was distracted while
reading the Sun:
About two New York minutes slipped away into eternity. Then the air was rent with a sudden war
whoop, the sitter made a clean jump of six feet, and a second after getting his
equilibrium he was tearing off his coat tails and dancing all kinds of jigs.
“The Sun Did It,” New York Sun, September 7, 1890, page 15.
Both “York
minute” and “New York minute” appeared in print during the first decade or so
of the 1900s:
Atchison Daily Champion (Atchison, Kansas), August 14, 1903, page 1. |
In a story
said to be from a court case in Clayton, New York, a man was acquitted of
assault with a deadly weapon because he was only trying to get rid of the poor
help:
The case looked pretty dark for Blackiston until he rose to
plead his own cause. He painted a
picture of domestic infelicity with a maiden who was defiant as well as
obstreperous and who refused to be discharged and appealed to the jurymen as
husbands and fathers if it wasn’t about the only thing left him under the
circumstances to play the gun bluff game.
All that he desired was for the rebellious young woman to leave the
house and his bluff worked all right and perhaps prevented a scandal. The jury acquitted
him in twelve New York minutes.
The Des Moines Register, December 1,
1903, page 6 (crediting the Nebraska
Journal).
The anecdote
was not from New York, however. It was based
on the real-life trial of the Rev. Francis C. Blackiston, of Smyrna, Delaware
who, early one morning threatened to shoot the head off his purportedly lazy,
good-for-nothing maid:
Evening Journal (Wilmington, Delaware), November 3, 1903, page 1. |
His
oratorical and rhetorical skills, honed by more than a decade behind the pulpit,
and a bit of pandering to a jury of (presumably) similarly aggrieved men, won
the day. He admitted the facts, but
asked for mercy – and got it:
“Witnesses to-day have sworn against
me, and what they say is about true. On
the morning of August 17 I came down stairs very late and no breakfast was
prepared. Miss York, although we had
been trying to discharge her for two months, was lying lazily across the
lounge. She refused to get my breakfast
and I drove her out. She abused me and
threatened me.
“Now, gentlemen, put yourself in my
place. I had to make my home safe. I started around the house, and knowing that
my gun would bluff her and rid us of her, took it to the front door. Wouldn’t you, every one of you, have done the
same thing?
“Gentlemen, think of my wife and
child. Send me to prison and they go
without shelter, even food. Surely you’ll
have mercy upon my.”
His eloquence brought his acquittal and
unlimited rejoicing.
Philadelphia Inquirer, November 3, 1903,
page 1.
For less
obvious reasons, the idioms “in a York minute” and “in a New York Minute” also disappeared
at about the same time, until “in a New York minute” reappeared in Texas in the
early 1950s.
New York Minute - the Olsen twins. |
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Note:
In an
earlier post, I pushed back the earliest known use of the idiom, “New York
minute,” by eighty years, from the early 1950s to 1870, but missed the business about the precursor idiom. Mea Culpa. See, Wildcats
and Wildcatters – the Very Long History of a “New York Minute”.
Brilliant stuff!
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