![]() ![]() : SIMON: Faith, and I thank your bounty and not your wisdom you are not troubled greatly with wit neither it seems. The date of authorship of the play is uncertain, though it is usually dated to c. Inborough is a Jacobean stage play by Thomas Middleton, first published in 1661. : Hengist, King of Kent, or The Mayor of Qu I regret I don't have the time (now, anyway) to follow this up properly, but this is what I found. Both appear to connect the yellowhammer with fools (although you have to be a bit careful when this is what you actively search for). I got one reference from around 1620, and one from aro I thought the search terms Yellowhammer and Dumb **** would be pushing my luck, so I tried Yellowhammer and Fool. : The Alabaman theory is clearly appealing, but I've come back to this over a cup of coffee, and this time looked on this side of the Atlantic. From "Civil War Wordbook including Sayings, Phrases & Expletives" by Darryl Lyman (Combined Books, Conshohocken, Pa., 1994. Yellowhammer is the name of a familiar yellow-colored bird. Alabamians sometimes wore uniforms made with a homemade dye of a yellowish hue. : : Yellowhammer - A nickname for a Confederate soldier from Alabama. "One day a Professor, preparing to make a Grand Ascension, was sorely pestered by Spectators of the Yellow-Hammer Variety, who fell over the Stay-Ropes or crowded up close to the Balloon to ask Fool Questions." is from 1899 (GC) : : : The "idiot" meaning seems to go back some. (The artice says "Alabama has been known as the "Yellowhammer State" since the Civil War." and "When the Confederate Veterans in Alabama were organized they took pride in being referred to as the Yellowhammers." Well, you would, wouldn't you. : : : Ah! Possibly because the Yellowhammer is the State Bird of Alabama. : : : : Just meddling, you understand - and not intending to start a second civil war - but at there is some suggestion that "yellow hammer" could be a nickname for an Alabaman. In times past children were encouraged to destroy its 'cursed eggs.'" Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997). The European yellow bunting, as it is also called, was once believed to be cursed beause it fluttered about the Cross and was stained by Christ's blood, which colored its plumage and marked its eggs with red forever after. ![]() "yellowhammer - This bird is named not for any hammer but from the earlier 'yellow-ham' (Old English geolu, 'yellow' plus 'hama' 'covering') in reference to its bright yellow markings. A third reference does mention something that would apply to yellow hammer as a derogatory phrase. Hall (University of Tennessee Press, 2004). Yellow hammer is a "northern flicker bird." "Dictionary of Smoky Mountain English" by Michael B. From the Mountain Range section of Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 2000). : : : : : : Yellow hammer - A name for the golden-winged woodpecker (Colaptes auratus). I do hope my contribution isn't a red herring. ![]() But having volunteered that information, I'm going to leave it to US experts to take this further. : : : : : : : I'm in the UK, and here it's a fairly common bird (see en./ wiki/Yellowhammer). I remember it was used in a context both economic - yellow hammers were poverty stricken - and implying social status - yellow hammers were "white trash" in the social pecking order - but it also could be used as a substitute for "idiot" or, in the Midwest flavor, a "dumb ****." I have no clue as to the reference of the color yellow, or the use of the tool imagery in "hammer." : : : : : : : : While growing up in the Midwest (central Illinois) I heard adults use the words "yellow hammer" to describe an unlikeable person, but I was (and still am) ignorant of the origin or exact meaning. In Reply to: Yellow hammer posted by Graham Cambray on Februat 18:35: Posted by Victoria S Dennis on Februat 19:43 ![]()
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