Spondulics

Question

Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'?http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/ claims it as London slang.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

--

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'? http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/ claims it as London slang.[/nq]
It's even in the tiny COD10:
spondulicks /spQn"d(j)u;lIks/
· pl. n. Brit. informal money.
? ORIGIN C19: of unknown origin.
In SOED5, the headword is singular:
spondulick, noun.
/spQn"dju;lIk/
slang. Also spondulik. Pl. -i(c)ks, -ix. M19.
(Origin unkn.)
In pl., money, cash. Also occas. sing., a piece of money, a coin.

OED2 traces it to the US ...
spondulicks
(spQn"dju;lIks) Also -ics, -ix; spondoolic(k)s, -ix. Also as quasi-sing. spondoolick, spondulick, etc. (Of fanciful formation.) Money, cash. Also, a piece of money, a coin.

1857 in R. H. Thornton Amer. Gloss. (1912), He lost..All the brass andall the needful, All the spondulix and buttons.

1863 Ibid., Those ordering job work should come down with thespondulicks as soon as the work is done.

1864 (see dingbat 1).
1868 All Year Round 19 Sept. 354/1 A restaurant..where the tallest sortof feeding may be had at all hours at the lowest possible cost to the spondoolics.

1889 E. Sampson Tales of Fancy 36, I was instructed to allow my opponentto gain a lap in advance..in order to draw out the spondoolicks.
1896 J. H. Bloomfield Cuban Exped. 20 As long as the Cubans can raisethe spondulix, they'll get plenty of people to fit out expeditions for them.

1899 T. M. Ellis 3 Cat's-eye Rings 32 Oh, I shall pull in thespondulicks,..I tell you.

1902 W. N. Harben Abner Daniel 58 The one with the spondoolix wondersharder than the one who has none.

1912 W. Owen Let. 23 Apr. (1967) 131, I shall do nothing until Fatherbrings me some ?spondoolick?.

1923 E. P. Oppenheim Inevitable Millionaires xi. 121 ?Do I understandthat the young man..has dissipated the whole of his patrimony, in twelve months?? he inquired. ?Every bean,? Harold assented. ?Not a spondulik left.?

1966 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 9 Aug. 1/10 (Advt.), Spondooliks. Dollars,pounds or call it what you like, you'll save plenty at Direct Disposals.

1980 Private Eye 29 Feb. 13/1 No one seemed very anxious to come up withthe spondulicks.
Chapman & Kipfer (was Wentworth & Flexner) have
spondulics or spondulix (n) /by 1856/
Money (said by Tony Thorne to be fr Greek /spondylikos/ fr /spondylos/, a seashell used as currency)
Ayto has it as a term for 'money':
spondulicks, -ics, -ix, spondoolicks, -iks, -ix (1857) Orig US; a fanciful coinage
/Private Eye/: No one seemed very anxious to come up with the spondulicks. (1980)
Green has:
spondulics/spondulacks/spondulicks /n./ (mid-19C+) money (cf. wampum). (? Gk. /spondulikos/, the adjectival form of /spondulox/, a type of she;; ised as early 'money'; or a corruption of greenback n2)
OK, so neither MWCD11 nor AHD4 has it. Tough.

Martin Ambuhl

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'? http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/ claims it as London slang.[/nq]
Only very vaguely. Michael Quinion has an article on it, in which he says, among other things:
http://www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-spo1.htm

It would seem from the evidence that spondulicks (either so spelled or as spondulix) was originally American college slang. One of its earliest appearances was in a piece about college life in the New York magazine Vanity Fair in 1860: "My friend the Senior got out of spondulix, and borrowed (my watch) to spout for the purpose of bucking the Tiger" (to interpret, his friend had run out of money and pawned the watch to get some more cash in order to gamble on cards, probably faro). The word was used later by such literary luminaries as O Henry and Bret Harte. From usage data, it now looks to be much more common outside the US, to the extent that the New Oxford Dictionary of English marks it as "British slang".

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]"My friend the Senior got out of spondulix, and borrowed (my watch) to spout for the purpose of bucking the ... out of money and pawned the watch to get some more cash in order to gamble on cards, probably faro).[/nq]
I read that "bucking the tiger" came about because the faro layout had a tiger down the middle of it.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'? http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/ claims it as London slang.[/nq]
Huckleberry Finn, ch 13
I ain't as rich as old Jim
Hornback, and I can't be so blame' generous and good to Tom, , and Harry as what he is, and slam around money the way he does; but I've told him a many a time 't I wouldn't trade places with him; for, says I, a sailor's life's the life for me, and I'm derned if I'D live two mile out o' town, where there ain't nothing ever goin' on, not for all his spondulicks and as much more on top of it.
Jim

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'? http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/ claims it as London slang.[/nq]
Yes, several people have, one of whom is me. Not sure about the 'London' bit though.

-ler

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'?[/nq]
Yes, I've heard of it, though I've never seen it written before, and didn't think it was peculiar to London.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'?[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, I've heard of it, though I've never seen it written before, and didn't think it was peculiar to London.[/nq]
It isn't. The chief examples from the nineteenth century are American. See below.
, 2nd. ed.
SPONDULICKS
(Of fanciful formation.)
Money, cash. Also, a piece of money, a coin.1857 in R. H. Thornton Amer. Gloss. (1912), He lost..All the brass andall the needful, All the spondulix and buttons. 1863 Ibid., Those ordering job work should come down with the spondulicks as soon as the work is done. 1864 (see DINGBAT 1). 1868 All Year Round 19 Sept. 354/1 A restaurant..where the tallest sort of feeding may be had at all hours at the lowest possible cost to the spondoolics. 1889 E. SAMPSON Tales of Fancy 36, I was instructed to allow my opponent to gain a lap in advance..in order to draw out the spondoolicks.

1896 J. H. BLOOMFIELD Cuban Exped. 20 As long as the Cubans can raise the spondulix, they'll get plenty of people to fit out expeditions for them. 1899 T. M. ELLIS 3 Cat's-eye Rings 32 Oh, I shall pull in the spondulicks,..I tell you. 1902 W. N. HARBEN Abner Daniel 58 The one with the spondoolix wonders harder than the one who has none. 1912 W. OWEN Let. 23 Apr. (1967) 131, I shall do nothing until Father brings me some ?spondoolick?. 1923 E. P. OPPENHEIM Inevitable Millionaires xi.

121 ?Do I understand that the young man..has dissipated the whole of his patrimony, in twelve months?? he inquired. ?Every bean,? Harold assented. ?Not a spondulik left.? 1966 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 9 Aug. 1/10 (Advt.), Spondooliks. Dollars, pounds or call it what you like, you'll save plenty at Direct Disposals. 1980 Private Eye 29 Feb. 13/1 No one seemed very anxious to come up with the spondulicks.

Regards, Frank Young
(Email Removed) 703-527-7684 Post Office Box 2793, Kensington, Maryland 20891 "Videmus nunc per speculum in aenigmate... Nunc cognosco ex parte"

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'? http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/ claims it as London slang.[/nq]
It's archaic now, but its use was not limited to London. It was regularly used by W. C. Fields.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Has anyone ever heard "spondulics", meaning "money'? http://www.londonslang.com/db/s/ claims it as London slang.[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, not just London though.[/nq]
Possibly originating from the fancied resemblance of a pile of coins to vertebrae, or spondyles.
Matti

Spondulics

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