Last Saturday evening some of the boys from the country came to town and got on a regular high daddy and proceeded to paint the town red.Īgain, the Semi-Weekly Interior Journal (Stanford, KY), this time of November 10, 1882: The Hartford Herald (Hartford, KY), Septemdescribes the prelude to a drunken fight: Nicholasville has an organization known as the "Dirty Dozen," who has been daubing the town with red paint, in very unchristianable names. The Bourbon News (Millersburg, KY) of Apsays: The Frankfort correspondent of the Louisville Commercial writes of the lobby at Frankfort: He gets on a high old drunk with a doubtful old man, and they paint the town red together. Semi-Weekly Interior Journal (Stanford, KY) of Masays: In 1883 and subsequent years, the term quickly spread to other states. Most interestingly, all are from Kentucky papers. Searching the Chronicling America newspaper archive, I found many examples from 18, before the OED's earliest July 1883. Whenever there was any excitement or anybody got particularly loud, they always said somebody was ‘painting the town red’. James Hennessy offered a resolution that the entire body proceed forthwith to Newark and get drunk.? Then the Democrats charged upon the street cars, and being wafted into Newark proceeded, to use their own metaphor, to ‘paint the town red’. The first from a July 1883 New York Times: The earliest OED citations are from the US.
Paint the town red music windows#
Here's a contemporary account of the Marquis painting people and doors and windows in 1837 Melton Mowbray, UK, but there's nothing (verifiable) in Google Books for paint the town red from before 1884, then suddenly eight examples, I think all American, and most inside quotes suggesting it's a new phrase. From what I found, this phrase came from 1880s Kentucky, USA, and described cowboys riding into town, getting drunk and causing havoc. I thought it would be interesting to trace the US origins to confirm or refute this.
I don't believe this comes from the Marquis of Waterford, when all the early citations point to a US origin.
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