Talk:early doors

I have yet to find a reasonable reference to the derivation of the term Early Doors. Currently (Aug-2008) it seems that all references relate to football commentators or alternatively to a TV series.

However, being of a reasonably senior age (66), I seem to remember that it referred to the practice of theatre (or perhaps cinema) managers placing a sign at the entrance to the theatre telling patrons that the performance was going to finish earlier than usual. Hence "Early Doors". This was so that the patrons could order their taxis for an earlier time, or tell their chauffeurs to return in good time to collect them. Alternatively it could be that the performance was starting earlier than usual and the doors would be opened earlier. I am not sure which was the correct, although I tend to the early finish version.

I do not have any form of evidence to this effect, but it is there in my mind from long ago.

Any comments on my derivation? — This comment was unsigned.

Plausible. Perhaps the "request for etymology" tag will get some response eventually. DCDuring TALK 23:51, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

My guess is it actually stems from "Early Dawes", with "Dawes" being Old English for "Day", so it literally means "early in the day".(AK) — This unsigned comment was added by 80.193.99.100 (talk) at 15:54, 28 October 2009 (UTC).

Evidence

Please provide evidence if you can for possible etymologies. There are a great number of spurious "folk etymologies" which are the bane of the existence for someone interested in the true evolution of language. In this case, all three explanations are plausible. The written record favors the theatrical origins with the term coming up in parliamentary debates in 1917. But that does not exclude the others, especially since the theatre is surrounded by people who make a living by writing things down, unlike the average pub. DCDuring TALK 19:36, 13 November 2009 (UTC)

With respect to "dawes", the question would be whether it was pronounced as we would pronounce "Dawes". We would want to see evidence that it survived in some way over centuries to eventually form the phrase "early doors", which slang dictionaries date back only to 19th century. Dialect can provide a home for such things, but we need evidence. DCDuring TALK 19:36, 13 November 2009 (UTC)