Danny Cassidy

At Tenement Talks, we like to think of all of the authors who have passed through our doors as members of the Tenement family. You’re our friends, people we admire, people we look up to, good writers, fantastic historians, great wordsmiths, wonderful speakers.

So we’re very saddened to hear of the death of Danny Cassidy, author of How the Irish Invented Slang, earlier this week. Danny came to do a talk with us last March, along with Peter Quinn and Mick Moloney, and shared his wit and wisdom on the Irish language and American culture. We know even in his absence that his scholarship will continue to influence future historians, linguists, writers, and every day folk like us.

Two of his friends share their memories:

http://www.counterpunch.org/cassidy10132008.html

http://irishechoonline.blogspot.com/2008/10/remembering-danny-cassidy.html

The Museum's website also features podcasts of Danny Cassidy talking about the Irish roots of "dude" and "the yellow kid":

http://www.tenement.org/podcasts/dude.mp3

http://www.tenement.org/podcasts/Danny-Cassidy-Yellow-Kid.mp3