subs. (American).—A stale joke or story; an old ‘Joe’; something frequently said or done before. As to the variants of this phrase—their name is legion. The old songs are CHESTNUT songs; he who would foist a stale jest is implored to spare the CHESTNUT tree, not to rustle the CHESTNUT leaves, not to set the CHESTNUT bell a-ringing. [The Philadelphia Press (1888) attributes the introduction of the phrase to Mr. William Warren, a veteran Boston comedian. In a forgotten melodrama, by William Dillon, called The Broken Sword, there were two characters, one a Capt. Xavier, and the other the comedy part of Pablo. Says the captain, a sort of Munchausen, ‘I entered the woods of Colloway, and suddenly from the thick boughs of a cork tree’—when Pablo interrupts him with the words: ‘A CHESTNUT, captain, a CHESTNUT. ‘Bah!’ replies the captain. ‘Booby, I say a cork tree.’ ‘A CHESTNUT,’ reiterates Pablo, ‘I should know as well as you, having heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times.’ Warren, who had often played Pablo, was at a stage-dinner, where one of the men told a story of doubtful age and originality. ‘A CHESTNUT,’ quoth Warren, ‘I have heard you tell the tale these twenty-seven times.’ The application pleased, and when the party broke up each member helped to spread the story and the commentary. This is the most plausible of many explanations.]
1882. HALKETT LORD, in Notes and Queries, 7 S., vii., 53. I first heard the word [CHESTNUT] in 1882, in a theatrical chophouse (Brown’s) in New York. The explanation given to me by Mr. Brown—once a well-known member of Wallack’s company—was ‘CHESTNUT, because it is old enough to have grown a beard,’ alluding to the prickly bristly husk of the nuts.
1886. Dramatic Review, March 27, p. 86, col. 2. Minnie Palmer will give £1000 to any one who will submit to her an idea for legitimate advertising … CHESTNUT ideas not wanted. [M.]
1888. New York Sun, Jan. 24. ‘May I venture to tell the old, old story, Miss Maud,’ he said, tremulously; ‘the old, old, yet ever new, story of—’ ‘Pardon me, Mr. Sampson, if I cause you pain,’ interrupted the girl, gently, ‘but to me the story you wish to tell is a CHESTNUT.’ ‘A CHESTNUT?’ ‘Yes, Mr. Sampson, I’m already engaged; but I will be a sister—’ ‘It isn’t as wormy as that one,’ murmured Mr. Sampson, feeling for his hat.
