They were the last words Abraham Lincoln heard before John Wilkes Booth assassinated him: “Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside-out, old gal—you sockdologizing old man-trap!” Booth knew that this line from the play Our American Cousin would get a big laugh, so he chose that moment to pull the trigger. A Wisconsin listener wants to know the meaning and origin of that curious word, sockdologizing. If you want to read the whole play, which has some silly wordplay and a dopey riddle or two, it’s online at Project Gutenberg. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Sockdologizing”
Hi, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, Martha and Grant. This is Tim in Winter, Wisconsin.
Hi, Tim.
Hi, Tim. How are you doing?
Pretty good, pretty good. I have a historically significant word to ask you about.
Oh, yeah?
Yeah, it’s one of the last four words that Abraham Lincoln ever heard.
And it’s from Our American Cousins, and the phrase went,
You sock-dologizing old man-trap.
You sock-dologizing old man-trap.
Yeah, and I’m pretty sure after researching it for a number of months,
What it means is you ultimately cunning old seductress.
Thank you.
It was a comedy line, and Booth shot Lincoln as the audience laughed.
Yes, you’re right.
So was Booth waiting for that line?
Yes, he was waiting.
He was very familiar with the play, and he was waiting for the line.
And I got interested in this because of a book I read.
And the book was Benjamin Armstrong’s Early Life Among the Indians,
And he’s talking to old Judge Hall.
And in April of 1864, Judge Hall had a party of Lake Superior Chippewa in Washington, D.C.,
And made this statement, we were in the theater when Lincoln was shot.
And I always thought it was quite interesting that a group of Native Americans would be watching our American cousin.
Well, how interesting.
I’ve just always been interested in what, if I got the meaning of the word correct, number one,
And where the heck do they come up with words like sochdologizing?
That doesn’t sound very Lake Superior to me.
No, not really.
We’re talking about the word sockdollager, S-O-C-K-D-O-L-A-G-E-R.
That’s one of the main spellings.
You see it spelled different kinds of ways.
But you’re right.
It was a made-up, silly word that arose out of a period of great linguistic exuberance in the early 19th century.
Apparently, the sock part, as far as we know, probably comes from the idea of socking somebody.
Because a sack dologer was a decisive blow, like that last punch in a fist fight that knocks somebody out.
The one that settles it for good, right?
Right.
Right.
The guy’s down for the count.
Exactly.
Exactly.
And using that kind of language, I mean, that’s part of the joke in that play, isn’t it, Tim?
That you have this sort of bumptious, rough-and-tumble American who falls in with these refined English aristocrats.
And it’s reflected in the language that he would say that famous line about,
I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal, you sop-dologizing old man-trap.
That’s exactly the full sentence, yep.
Does that help?
You betcha that does help.
It was one of those words when I looked at it, I just had to smile because it really says a lot about the 1860s and 1850s.
It certainly does.
And the term dates to at least as early as 1829, so it’s got some legs.
It’s lasted at least this long.
I love it.
I love it.
Well, thank you for reminding us about that word.
Okay, thanks a lot.
Thank you, Tim.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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