Ellen Oster wrote,


"[Justin] Kaplan contradicts the [usual] story for the origin of the name
"Mark Twain" Kaplan, suggesting the name originated in Nevada when barkeeps
would mark up two drinks on credit.

Opinions?"


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Ellen --

Twain's story was that another riverman, Captain Sellers, had adopted the
leadsman's call of "mark twain!" (i.e., two fathoms of water, safe for a
riverboat) and used it to sign his  occasional journalistic scribblings,
and that Clemens appropriated it after Sellers died.

There are supposedly several problems with this story.  One is that Sellers
may still have been alive when Clemens started using it.  Another is that
no researcher has turned up any specimens of Sellers' "Mark Twain" pieces.


The competing story has Sam Clemens, then in his late 20s, out in Virginia
City, where he and the other Territorial Enterprise staffers would finish
the night's work and head out to their favorite bar, where Sam would call
out, "Mark twain!" which meant, "Two drinks, barkeep, and put them on my
tab!"  In some tellings, this story has a nice additional touch: the
bartender had the custom of scratching a mark on the bottle for each drink
owed.  Two drinks, two ("twain") marks.  Very cute.

Later, according to this theory, Twain found himself moving among the
respectable gentry of Elmira, Hartford, and New York.  The true derivation
of his name now embarrassed him, so he concocted a plausible (but colorful)
cover story, and stuck to it the rest of his life.

In my lectures and tours, I generally offer both explanations, and let the
listeners pick the one they like.  In my heart, I think I still buy the
"official" leadsman's-call version, in some form or other.  The lack of
documentation doesn't seem to be a fatal objection, since there's no reason
to expect Sellers' pieces to have survived.  And if there was anything to
the other story, you'd think Twain might have at least mentioned it
somewhere in his autobiographical dictations, which are pretty unfettered
in other respects.

And then, maybe there's some truth in both versions; things often happen
for more than one reason.

Anybody else have thoughts on this?



Peter Salwen