From tomgally@tanuki.twics.co.jp Mon Jan 10 16:04:50 EST 1994 Article: 108133 of rec.music.gdead Xref: economic.mess.cs.cmu.edu rec.music.gdead:108133 Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!nntp.club.cc.cmu.edu!news.mic.ucla.edu!library.ucla.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU!mmdf From: tomgally@tanuki.twics.co.jp Subject: Re: Deadhead Message-ID: Originator: mmdf@uvaarpa.Virginia.EDU Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Reply-To: tomgally@tanuki.twics.co.jp Organization: University of Virginia Date: Sun, 9 Jan 1994 06:31:25 GMT Lines: 31 The Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, volume IV, page 289, gives a column and a half of fine print to "deadhead" and variations such as "deadheading" and "deadheadism." The first recorded use in English dates from 1576, from a book called "Gesner's Newe Jewell of Health" translated (presumably from the Latin) by George Baker. The citation reads, "See whether the deadeheade be blacke." The definition says the word in this case is synonymous with "caput mortuum," a term from alchemy for "The residuum remaining after the distillation or sublimation of any substance, 'good for nothing but to be flung away, all vertue being extracted' (Willis 1681)." (That describes a lot of us, doesn't it?) Other meanings for "deadhead" include "A person admitted without payment to a theatrical performance, a public conveyance, etc.," "A non-combatant accompanying a fighting force," "A train, freight car, truck, etc., carrying no passengers or freight," "A person who contributes nothing to an enterprise, activity, etc.; an unenterprising person," and "A faded flower head." The dictionary, published in 1989, does not list the meaning we all think of first. My local commuter train station here in Tokyo has electronic signs that announce the coming trains in both Japanese and English. When a train is scheduled to pass by without any passengers, the English display is "DEADHEAD TRAIN." Tom Gally tomgally@twics.co.jp (Tokyo, Japan)