Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 June 1893 — Origin of the Word “Socdollager.” [ARTICLE]

Origin of the Word “Socdollager.”

A writer in the March Atlantic gives this as the origin of- the slang word “socdollagcr,” which was current some time ago. “.Socdollagcr” was the uneducated man’s transposition nf “doxologer,” which was the familiar New England rendering of “doxlogy. ” This was the Puritan term for the verse of ascription used at the conclusion of every hymn, like the “Gloria,” at the end of a chanted psalm. On doctrinal grounds it was proper for the whole congregation to join in the singing, so that it became a triumphant winding up of the whole act of worship. Thus it happened that “socdollager” became the term for anything which left nothing else to follow; a decisive, overwhelming finish, to which no reply was possible.