Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 August 30

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August 30

Nineteenth-century nautical(?) terminology

What does "act some trades" mean in the following sentence (published in "one of the London daily journals" in 1847)?

“ Incredible as it may appear, a person will attend at the Monument, and will, for the sum of £2,500, undertake to jump off the said Monument, and in coming down will drink some beer and eat a cake, act some trades, shorten and make sail, and bring ship safe to anchor. ” — quoted in Charles Welch, History of the Monument (1921).

Needless to say, this feat was not accomplished, but I'd be interested to know what the person intended to do. Tevildo (talk) 17:16, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Here are some definitions of "trade". Two possibilities that come to mind are 1b: " archaic : a track or trail left by a person or animal :" or 3b: "an occupation requiring manual or mechanical skill :" That is, either they are going to make a track or trail; or perform some craft or artisanship. Both would be equally as ridiculous as drinking a beer on the way down. I can't find any other definition which fits the context. Perhaps someone with full OED access may find a better fit. --Jayron32 17:38, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

I don't take "in coming down" to mean "while coming down", but rather "after coming down". It sounds like some type of a package deal for tourists, so the jump is presumably done safely, from a limited height into a net, for example. In the context of a package deal, pretending to perform tradesmans' crafts might fit in, like laying a brick or two and some mortar. StuRat (talk) 19:52, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

It wasn't an invitation to tourists, but an advertisement for a burlesque show. [1]. That is, someone was offering to perform a stunt and charging admission to watch him do it. --Jayron32 20:07, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

I like how in the previous paragraph, it says that this monument to the Great London Fire was "illuminated with portable gas". Hoping to find a reason to build another monument, perhaps ? StuRat (talk) 21:13, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Something tells me it means doing impressions. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 19:06, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

I have no expertise in sailing, but even I know what Trade winds are. See also Winds in the Age of Sail. The whole thing reads as a stunt done for a fee or bet of £2,500 by a person jumping off a monument while consuming beer and cake. It seems he uses a cape or parachute device. "[A]ct some trades" seems to be a humorous euphemism for setting the cape for maximum performance into the wind, "shorten and make sail" for gliding maximum distance, and "bring ship safe to anchor" for making a successful, safe landing. No doubt "act some trades" was perfectly understandable to readers of the 1847 journal. Akld guy (talk) 21:21, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

This is a plausible answer, but "act" in this sense doesn't appear in this fairly comprehensive glossary of nautical terms (Smyth & Belcher, 1867) or any other on-line resource I can find immediately. Perhaps "do whatever is necessary to deploy the parachute" might be a possible reading? Tevildo (talk) 10:36, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

That the stunt involved an early type of parachute is possible, since in July of the same year, a balloon ascent at Vauxhall Gardens (also in London), included dropping a "a parachute containing a live animal". [2] Alansplodge (talk) 13:03, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

Over men and horses, hoops and garters, lastly through a hogshead of real fire. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 14:26, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

Purely speculating here, but could "act some trades" mean "execute some transactions in stock or commodities"? The whole thing sounds like a list of plainly impossible feats, in the tall tales tradition, and so one of them is that the jumper will somehow contact his broker and arrange to buy or sell or perhaps perform more elaborate options or futures trading, before reaching the ground. --Trovatore (talk) 15:18, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

Compare The Motorcycle Song (Significance of the Pickle) by the brilliant Arlo Guthrie. --Trovatore (talk) 21:18, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

"Act" could be an abbreviation for 'enact'. Akld guy (talk) 20:39, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

Searches for "act some trades" found only this sentence, which has been quoted several times over the years. (It is said to be from the Times of August 22, 1827, although a cursory search of The Times on that date did not find the passage.) The sentence is understood to be joking in nature, and it is not supposed that these are things it would be possible to do while jumping off a monument. Since "act some trades" is a hapax legomenon, but all the other things listed are at least things meaningfully described, the phrase must be a mistake for something else. I incline to the view that Trovatore is correct, and "transact some trades" (in stocks, bonds, or bills of exchange) is what is intended. John M Baker (talk) 16:26, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

I read through The Times of 22 August 1827 but didn't encounter the phrase "act some trades" either. However, I did spot this obituary notice on page 3:

DIED On Sunday, the 19th last, Frederick, the infant son of Thomas Windus, Esq., Stamford-hill.

There is a Windus Road and a Windus Walk in Stamford Hill. Thomas Windus was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, but I suspect the reason for his commemoration is that he lived at Gothic Hall (where Barclays Bank now is). In the City, a large area of land was owned by the Duke of Buckingham, and when it was developed the streets were named after all possible combinations of his name, including "Of Alley". Are there any other examples of such a comprehensive remembrance? 86.151.51.82 (talk) 11:47, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

The British Newspaper Archive also furnishes no original source for this advertisement. The 21 June 1891 edition of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper reproduces the above text, and the same claim about the date of the original publication, and follows it up with the observation that 'Needless to say, such a performance is not on record'. However, I think that describing it as a 'burlesque advertisement' (as Lloyd's does) is not saying that it is an advertisement for a burlesque performance, but rather that it is a burlesque, that is a parody, of more serious advertisements. The fundraising method described is subscription, a form of crowdfunding popular in the era - but the target sum suggested would be more fitting for a new edition of a book than a one-off circus act. AlexTiefling (talk) 13:07, 5 September 2016 (UTC)