1911 Little Willies Book

I've had this book for quite a few years, think I bought it in Maine. Looking for something else and found this tucked in a box - I remember I couldn't find anything about this when I bought it, but now there is another one on-line. I'll include the link as they have all the 'Little Willes' shown in the link if you want to read them all.
Here are a few photos of mine.
Mary

 

Sorry, here is the link.
http://ruthlessrhymes.com/category/little_willies/1911-little-willies-book

 

Like the new printing of Grimm's Fairy Tales. More gruesome by far than the ones we grew up with.

 

Does 'It gives me the Willies' come from this, or does this come from 'It gives me the Willies'?

 

"Origin of WILLIES
origin unknown
First Known Use: circa 1896"

Above is from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary --

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/willies

 

A quick scan of the many online sources for word origin and definition says "origin unknown."

 

Yeah, but don't you think...? It had to come from somewhere.

Here's one what I wrote:

Little Willie in a tree
Found a honey hive of bees
Threw it down on brother Pete
Mother said, “Now ain’t that sweet!”

 

Little Willie stuck his finger
Into an electric socket
Warbled like an opera singer
‘Till the current finally stopped it

 

Hi,
I would love to see it with Edward Gorey illustrations.
greg

 

Here's what the Oxford English Dictionary says. You may know that the goal of this dictionary is to document the first instance of the use of words in various meanings. They do list 1896 as the first use they have found. They also list instances that may change the use of the word just slightly. These are listed as year, then source citation, then a quote of the actual use. The first one almost looks like a definition itself. To me this indicates that it might have been used earlier, but no printed instance has been found.



willies, n.

Pronunciation: /ˈwɪlɪz/
Etymology: Etymology unknown.
slang (orig. U.S.).

the willies: a fit of nervous apprehension. Chiefly in phrs. to give (someone) the willies, to get the willies .

1896 Dial. Notes 1 427 To have the willies, to be nervous.
1900 G. Bonner Hard-pan 99 It just gives me the willies to think of your being down on your luck.
1913 J. London Valley of Moon 105 Bert gives me the willies the way he's always lookin' for trouble.
1927 H. A. Vachell Dew of Sea 261, I sure got the willies at the thought of meeting you.
1942 G. Kersh Nine Lives Bill Nelson ix. 57 It can give you the willies when, in broad daylight, you hear a rifle go off.
1953 F. Swinnerton Month in Gordon Square 202 Gosh! She was getting the willies. It was awful.
1962 J. Heller Catch-22 xii. 127 Chief White Halfoat shuddered. ‘That guy gives me the willies,’ he confessed.
1975 B. Felton & M. Fowler Best, Worst & most Unusual 277 You can now visit Winchester House. But we wouldn't advise it if you suffer from the willies.
1984 A. Carter Nights at Circus iii. i. 199 Not that the ‘wagon salon’ isn't very pleasant, if it don't give you the willies.

 

Here is the source they refer to from 1896. A serial publication called Dialect Notes. That source says the use was in Ithaca, New York. Don't know if it was printed or verbal.

http://books.google.com/books?oe=UTF-8&id=G3QKAAAAIAAJ&q=willies#v=snippet&q=willies&f=false

In looking further through the publication, it appears that this was part of a list compiled at Cornell University in Ithaca, related to words that they have heard people speak.

 

Well, any book with the title "Little Willies" would have the grade school boys sniggering...

 

And some grown men as well.

 

Edward Gorey must certainly have read Willie as a child. His alphabet fits right in.

http://www.brainpickings.org/2011/01/19/edward-gorey-the-gashlycrumb-tinies/

 

He lived two towns over and I took my daughter to his book signings before he passed away so we have quite a few autographed Gorey books.

 

Hi Bev,
I am so jealous. I love Gorey ever since I was introduced to his "alphabet" in 1968.
greg

 

Cxgirl, here are a couple of other sites talking about them a bit. Apparently that type of poem was called a "Ruthless Rhyme" -- and the site at your link was named after them.

http://timforsythe.com/blog/little-willies-by-the-dozen/

http://qctimes.com/news/opinion/edi...cle_7397588a-97c5-5bda-913a-f1ba26e18b9a.html

 

Thanks for the links fig. I thought of Edward Gorey when I was reading this, I love his stuff. Now has a place sitting on a side table with a few other odd treasures.

 

Mother asked, “Where’s Little Willie?”
Sister said, “He’s acting silly.”
Brother said, “Lost in the bog.”
Father said, “We’ll get a dog.”