Whistling Dixie: The land of the Dix

Q. Whistling Dixie

A. The phrase 'to whistle Dixie' means to engage in unrealistic, hopeful fantasising. The idiom alludes to the song 'Dixie' - the unofficial national anthem of the Confederate States during the American Civil War (1860-5) - and the vain hope that the South, known as Dixie, would win.

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Q. Where does the name Dixie come from

A. All sources agree that earliest recorded use of the term is in a minstrel song called 'Johnny Roach' by Daniel Decatur Emmett, first performed in February 1859, though where he got the name from is a matter of some contention. Emmett also wrote the more famous 'Dixie's Land' which immortalised the term, and first performed that song in April that same year. While there is no recorded use of the term prior to Emmett's songs, there are attestations that the term was in use before 1859. Emmett himself never claimed to have originated the word, saying that it was one he had heard elsewhere.

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Three theories are generally trotted out as to the origin:

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First, the term is simply a reference to the Mason-Dixon Line, the border between Pennsylvania and Maryland that separated the slave states from the free states. The 'line', still considered the frontier between north and south in the USA, was named for the two Englishmen, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who surveyed the parallel 39�43' in order to define the long-disputed boundaries of the overlapping land grants of the Penns, proprietors of Pennsylvania, and the Baltimores, proprietors of Maryland.

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Second, the term is a reference to Johan Dixie (or Dixy), a Manhattan slave owner of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Dixie was kind to his slaves, but they were sold South either when Dixie died or when New York abolished slavery. Dixie's former slaves spread stories about how good life was in 'Dixie's Land' up north. It is ironic to think that Dixie may first have referred to New York City.

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Third, and a favourite with many, is the one to be found on a plaque in New Orleans: 'On this site from 1836 to 1924 stood the Citizens State Bank, originator of the "Dixie". In its early days the bank issued its own $10 bank note, with the French word "Dix" for "ten" printed on the note's face. As this currency became widespread, people referred to its place of origin as "the land of the Dix", which was eventually shortened to "Dixieland". Through song and legend, the word became synonymous with America's Southland.'

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Take your pick. The first and last compete for the most supporters.

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Q. What about the song Dixie's Land

A.

'Then I wish I was in Dixie, hooray! Hooray!

In Dixie land I'll take my stand, to live and die in Dixie,

Away, away, away down south in Dixie,

Away, away, away down south in Dixie.'

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Emmett's song was an instant hit, and at the outbreak of the Civil War was popular in both the North and South. At the beginning of the war the troops of both armies marched to war to the tune but by the end of 1861 it had become identified as a Southern tune, being played at the inauguration of the Confederate president Jefferson Davis on 18 February 1861 in Montgomery, Alabama.

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Q. So Emmett was a loyal son of the South

A. Surprisingly not. Born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1815 - albeit of Virginian parents - he began working as a travelling 'black-face' minstrel in the 1830s. He was less than happy about his song's adoption by the Confederate States, as he was anything but a Southern sympathiser. However, the song assured him a pretty good career, which lasted for two-thirds of the 19th century. He died in 1904 in the town in which he had been born.

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Q. Did he pen any other famous tunes

A. You may have heard of 'Old Dan Tucker', 'Turkey in the Straw' and 'Old Zip Coon'.

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Q. What about 'I Wanna Go Back to Dixie'

In 1953 the American humorous songsmith and Harvard maths professor wrote a pastiche of the Southern marching tune called 'I Wanna Go Back to Dixie'. With lines such as:

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'Old times they are not forgotten

Whuppin' slaves and pickin' cotton'

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and

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'I wanna talk with Southern gen'lemen

And put that white sheet on again

I ain't seen one good lynchin' in years'

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you can see where he's coming from.

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See also the article on Jim Crow

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For more on Phrases & Sayings click here

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By Simon Smith