Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1919 — SLANG TERM OF OLD ORIGIN [ARTICLE]

SLANG TERM OF OLD ORIGIN

Appellation “Deadhead” First Came Into Use When Dead City of Pompeii Was Flourishing. Did you ever .stop and think why, if you are .so fortunate as to acquire a free ticket to something you should be called a deadhead? The reason for this bit of slang dates way back to the days of the ancients. In the national museum in Naples there is a case of old theater tickets that the Pompeiians didn’t get a chance to use before their theater season was brought to such an abrupt close by the eruption of Vesuvius. They are made In various shupes, each shape showing which part of that particular ticket will admit you. You could get Into the peanut gallery only when you presented the little pigeons, and to this day that gallery is called the pigeon loft In Italy/ Then there were little skulls modeled of ivory, and these were used only by those who were to be admitted free. Hence, “deadhead.”