E87: Sam Goes Brannanas

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:10)
His name was Sam Brannan or something like that.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:14)
I really honestly thought you were gonna sing that, and I'm kind of disappointed.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:17)
It's a good girls camp song, did you know that one?

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:20)
No.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:21)
It's not the traditional Clementine. It's more of a white girls rap, if you will.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:26)
No, I'm more disappointed we didn't get to hear it, but fine, we're gonna step away from Nauvoo Shenanigans for a second, and Lindsay already runs off to the Wild West history. Imagine that.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:37)
Hey, it's interesting that you would use that word, Shenanigans, because that's a great word, and one that we use probably every single episode on the podcast. It's also a perfect opening for today's episode.

**Bryan Buchanan** (0:50)
Does the episode need a Shenanigans warning?

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:53)
Sure, but also no. It's because we are taking a Nauvoo detour for a hot sec and talking about the gold rush. And did you know, Bryan, that the word Shenanigans was coined, mined, minted, if you will, in the gold rush? That's right, the word Shenanigans, who some say has an Irish origin of Shenanigans. How would you even say that word?
Shino-shugim?

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:18)
Yeah, have fun with that.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (1:19)
I don't speak Gaelic.
Which means I play tricks, basically combines with the Spanish word chanada, which means deceit.
And since the Gold Rush has a confluence of both Irish and Spanish, they each give each other the special kind of hug where Shenanigans is born. It first peeks its head out and says hello to the world in January 22nd, 1855, in a letter from California to the Ohio Democrat talking about political corruption. So the word Shenanigans comes right out of the California Gold Rush.

**Bryan Buchanan** (1:48)
Objection, Your Honor, because this podcast has actually discovered the earliest known use of the term. It was actually a few months earlier in August, 1854
So the Oxford English Dictionary and pretty much the entire internet can suck it. This was fun. thankyounewspapers.com. It comes out of a really weird newspaper article. It sort of sounds like it was a dramatic troupe that was in town performing. I couldn't tell if it was real or if it was just like a piece of literature. Anyway, the upshot of its usage is something can be considered legitimate because it doesn't quote, come the Shenanigan.
And it was in quotes, so it's clear like this is the new hip slang the kids in the street are using. But to your point, this was found in the Nevada Journal in Nevada City, California. Again, totally confirms the Gold Rush origin story.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:34)
So now that you're mentioning this because you do have this weird talent, we talked last episode about your weird talent with Sardames, but you do find words. Didn't you find a Mormon word? It was like on our bogus episode or something.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:47)
Mormons are very much around for the introduction of that into the lexicon. That was fun.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:54)
I can't remember what word that is that you found, but I was like, what? Mormons came up with that word? It's on a past episode.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:59)
That's ancient history by now. I can't remember either. Strangely enough, however, lots of words that we use today come out of the gold rush. 49er, obviously from 1849 when the rush kind of heats up. Bonanza, gold fever, going around the horn, mother load, bucks, pay dirt, grub stake, gold digger, strike a claim, flash in the pan, panned out, petered out, eureka, transubstantiation, okay, maybe not.
And of course, shenanigans.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:24)
That's right, gold wasn't the only thing people were pulling out of the California desert. Lots of culture, still like it is today, including the denim Levi's you're wearing, come to us from the gold rush times. The absolute best thing that came from that time was the lore and legend of Elder Sam Brannan himself, the only man other than old General Albert Johnston to give brother Brigham Young a run for his money, in every sense of the word.
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:57)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:59)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion, this isn't your grandpa's Mormon history.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:26)
This is the tale of Mormon saints and sinners from our roots until present day.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:31)
Gird your loins, lock your hearts, and pay your tithing, because we're bringing you the story of Mormonism in all its paradisiacal glory.