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Mortimer Neal Thomson (September 2, 1832June 25, 1875) was an American journalist and humorist who wrote under the
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
Q. K. Philander Doesticks. He was born in
Riga, New York Riga is a town in Monroe County, New York, United States. The population was 5,590 at the 2010 census. The Town of Riga is southwest of the city of Rochester on the western border of the county. Locally, the town's name is pronounced RYE-ga, ins ...
and grew up in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...
. He attended
Michigan University , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
but was expelled along with several others either for his involvement in secret societiesJohnson and Brown 1904, vol. 10. or for "too much enterprise in securing subjects for the dissecting room." After a brief period working in theater, he became a journalist and lecturer. For his published writings, he used the pen name "Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P. B.", a pseudonym he had first used in university (the full version is "Queer Kritter Philander Doesticks, Perfect Brick"). A collection published in 1855, ''Doesticks What He Says'', reprinted many of his pieces. In 1856 he wrote ''Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah'', a parody of
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
's ''
The Song of Hiawatha ''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his l ...
''. Thomson is credited with coining terms including ''brass knuckles'', ''gutter-snipe'', ''good and ready'', and ''grin and bear it''. In 1858, Thomson's wife died in childbirth. Three months later, as a correspondent for the ''
New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
'' he wrote a report on the Pierce Butler slave sale in
Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
in 1859 that was subsequently published as a tract by the
American Anti-slavery Society The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS; 1833–1870) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, had become a prominent abolitionist and was a key leader of this society ...
and translated into several languages. Thomson died in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on June 25, 1875. In 1888, when his short piece, "A New Patent Medicine Operation", was anthologized in ''
Mark Twain's Library of Humor ''Mark Twain's Library of Humor'' is an 1888 anthology of short humorous works compiled by Mark Twain, pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, William Dean Howells and Charles Hopkins Clark. In 1880, George Gebbie suggested to Mark Twain that he ...
'', an introductory paragraph described Thomson as a figure whose "dashing and extravagant drolleries" had quickly passed from fashion.Twain, Kemble, Howells & Clark 1888, p. 532.


Books

*''Doesticks: A Poetical Letter ... to His Younger Brother, Containing a Thousand and One Lines''. Detroit: Wales, 1854. *''Doesticks What He Says''. New York: E. Livermore, 1855. *''Plu-Ri-Bus-Tah: a song that's by no author, a deed without a name''. New York: Livermore & Rudd, 1856. *(with Edward Fitch Underhill) ''The History and Records of the Elephant Club: Comp. from Authentic Documents Now in Possession of the Zoological Society''. New York: Livermore & Rudd, 1856. *''Nothing to Say: a Slight Slap at Mobocratic Snobbery, Which Has 'Nothing to Do' with 'Nothing to Wear. New York: Rudd, 1857. *''Great Auction Sale of Slaves at Savannah, Georgia, March 2d and 3d, 1859''. New York: American Anti-slavery Society, 1859. *''The Witches of New York, as Encountered by Q.K. Philander Doesticks, P.B.'' New York: Rudd & Carleton, 1859. *''The Lady of the Lake: A Travestie in One Act. The minor drama, no. 176''. New York: S. French, 1860.


Notes


References

*Johnson, Rossiter, and John Howard Brown. ''The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans''. Boston: Biographical Society, 1904. *Twain, Mark, E. W. Kemble, William Dean Howells, and Charles Hopkins Clark. ''Mark Twain's Library of Humor''. New York: Charles L. Webster & Co, 1888. *''New York Times''
"Mortimer Thomson–'Doesticks'," June 26, 1875
accessed April 7, 2010


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Mortimer 1832 births 1875 deaths People from Monroe County, New York American humorists 19th-century American journalists American male journalists 19th-century American male writers Writers from Ann Arbor, Michigan Writers from New York (state) University of Michigan alumni