josh

1845, Amer.Eng., probably from the familiar version of the proper name Joshua, but just which Joshua, or why, is long forgotten. Perhaps it was taken as a typical name of an old farmer. The word was in use earlier than the career of U.S. humorist “John Billings,” pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw (1818-85), who did not begin to write and lecture until 1860; but his popularity after 1869 may have influence that of the word.

About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment. [“Josh Billings”]

—

This is a myth:

The recent surveys indicating that many Americans believe that

the new “Golden Dollar” actually contains gold is reminiscent of

the “Racketeer Nickel”, the 1883 five-cent piece without the

word “cents”, which was sometimes gold-plated and passed off

as a five-dollar gold piece.

An ANA “Money Talks” transcript by Mark Van Winkle features

the best-known of the “racketeers”: “In one famous court case,

a deaf-mute named Josh Tatum was accused of passing off

many of these gold-plated or “Racketeer” nickels. But he was

able to go free, since no one could ever successfully testify

against him. As a deaf-mute, he never actually called the coins

anything . . . he merely gave them to clerks, and politely took

whatever change they gave him.”

Some numismatic references state that the story of Josh Tatum

is the origin of the English word “josh”, as in “You’re joshing

me.” But my favorite online dictionary, Merriam-Webster

(http://www.m-w.com/) has this entry for the word:

Josh: Etymology: origin unknown. Date: 1852

transitive senses : to tease good-naturedly : KID

intransitive senses : to engage in banter : JOKE

Given that this citation predates the 1883 coin by over 30 years,

it seems unlikely that Mr. Tatum is actually the original source of

the word.

In none of the references I’ve come across in my library is

there a citation for the Boston trial of Mr. Tatum. How can

we verify any of this without consulting original source

materials? Does anyone know of any contemporary

newspaper articles discussing the trial?

Source: http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v03n18a08.html

It dates to at least 1852. It is probably from the name of Josh Billings, a 19th century American humorist.

I thought it came from the name of the deaf/dumb guy who plated 5-cent pieces with gold around the early part of the last century, and passed them off as $5 gold coins. No?