18 March 2021
(Explanation of Mississippi bonds added on 19 March)
The phrase to keep one’s nose clean means to stay out of trouble, to behave. The phrase is a metaphor of small children who don’t know enough about politeness and manners to wipe their runny noses; as such, the phrase is often deployed in a condescending manner.
The phrase is an Americanism that dates to at least 15 May 1824, when it appears in the pages of the Louisville, Kentucky Microscope. Like all of the earliest appearances I have found, it is in a brief, untitled snippet of news or commentary—and such snippets, which are often inserted to fill out a column of text, lack the context needed to understand them more than a century later. This one relates to U.S. politics, but the exact references are obscure. The Microscope endorsed John Quincy Adams in the presidential election of that year, so the “Great Bashaw” may be a reference to his chief opponent, Andrew Jackson:
——Club him! Sue him! Dirk him! Put him to prison!”—said a little soul’d fellow the other day; “He has insulted our Great Bashaw.” Go home little man, and keep your nose clean, we fear neither your weapons, nor threats; we shall “Lash the rascals naked through the world.” Take care Jake!
The “little man” clearly frames the speaker as a child, and keep your nose clean here would seem to have a dual valence, one a literal one treating him as a child and the other warning him not engage in violence.
Another one that has a dual valence appears in the Baltimore Sun on 21 July 1838. It may simply be a literal reference to wiping one’s nose, but one suspects that the editors of the Sun are sniping at the editors of the Boston Post, implying they don’t know how to act in polite society. And the identity of Webster is also obscure; it could be Daniel Webster, a New Englander who was then serving as Secretary of State, and perhaps the Sun was implying that Webster was rough around the edges. It could also be a reference to lexicographer Noah Webster, which would be very meta, but that seems less likely. Or it could be any of a hundred other possible Websters:
We should say that it was pretty good times, when we can manufacture our own silk nose-wipers, and get three dollars for them!—Boston Post.
We hope some of the manufacturers will give the editors of the Post a wiper, to carry to the Webster dinner, that he may keep his nose clean.
Another one where we clearly understand the denotation of the phrase but the context is baffling is this one from the Albany Argus of 8 February 1842. The reference to Mississippi bonds would appear to be an 1839 repudiation of state bonds that had been invested in two failed banks, that is the state would not pay out on those bonds to the banks’ creditors. It was a political bruhaha at the time:
“Tom, my boy, you should be careful always to keep your nose clean, and avoid the bonds iniquity.”
“Yeth, pa. I know what bonth them ith.”
“Do you?—tell me then—hold up your head now, and speak out.”
“Yeth, thir. They ith the Mithithippi bonth, ain’t they?”
“To be sure, Tom—to be sure!”
This next one is from a New Orleans correspondent for the New-York Commercial Advertiser that was printed in that paper on 19 January 1844. Clearly, the phrase has a literal meaning here, but the fact that it is italicized makes one think that more than that is intended. Could the paper be implying the handkerchief is for the officer?:
As an evidence of the military ardor which prevails with us, I will relate a fact. Yesterday an officer, dressed in full uniform, passed up our (Magazine) street with his little son, 4 or 5 years old, dressed completely like himself, accompanied by a nurse with a handkerchief in her hand to keep his nose clean.
But sometimes, both the meaning and context are quite clear. In this one from 2 February 1849, the Boston Herald is poking at its rivals, the Boston Daily Bee and Boston Daily Republican:
The Bee appears in new type. Two columns of very interesting personal news appeared on its first page, yesterday.
The Republican, from which the above is taken, is the organ of the major, as the Bee is of the minor Mutual Admiration Society of Boston. Don’t be envious, Messrs. Republican. Ben is only following in your wake. Allow him to gather the laurels which attend his efforts. There is room enough in the world for both of you. Be good boys, keep your noses clean, and don’t cultivate the bad passions.
Finally, I’ll cap this list of early uses with one that engages in a more extended metaphor. It is from a 22 March 1855 letter printed in the New Haven Morning Journal and Courier from a woman whom the paper describes as a “zealous belier [sic] in the Mormon doctrines and at present a resident of the Great Salt Lake City.” The context is that of government persecution of Mormons, and one cannot help but wonder if the above typo was not deliberate:
If Uncle Sam will cleanse his own face and hands, and keep his nose clean, he will have enough to do without interfering with us.
Sources:
Albany Argus (New York), 8 February 1842, 4. NewsBank: America’s Historical Newspapers.
Boston Herald, 2 February 1849, 2. NewsBank: America’s Historical Newspapers.
“Correspondence Commercial Advertiser” (New Orleans, 9 January 1844). New-York Commercial Advertiser, 19 January 1844, 2. NewsBank: America’s Historical Newspapers.
Green’s Dictionary of Slang, 2021, s.v., nose, n.
“An Interesting Letter” (22 March 1855). Morning Journal and Courier (New Haven, Connecticut), 29 May 1855, 2. NewsBank: America’s Historical Newspapers.
The Microscope (Louisville, Kentucky), 15 May 1824, 2. ProQuest Magazines.
Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, December 2003, s.v. nose, n.
The Sun (Baltimore), 21 July 1838, 1. NewsBank: America’s Historical Newspapers.
Thanks to reader Oecolampadius for explaining the phrase Mississippi bonds.