[Ads-l] Antedating of "Ivy Leaguer"

Thu Dec 4 01:31:25 UTC 2014

Makes sense; a 9 (in 1939) might well be read as a 4.  I suspect the "mote-skins" Luckman needed to persuaded to re-don in the penultimate line in the excerpt Garson provides below were actually mole-skins (not to be confused with Moleskines).

LH

On Dec 3, 2014, at 2:29 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole wrote:

> Below is an earlier instance of "ivy leaguers" followed by a tricky
> faulty citation for "ivy league" in the Newspapers.com database.
> 
> Date: November 22, 1935
> Newspaper: Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, Illinois)
> Article: Football Prophet Comes Up Bravely for Last Round
> News service: AP
> Quote Page: 14
> Database: Newspapers.com
> 
> [Being excerpt]
> Princeton-Dartmouth -- A couple
> of undefeated and untied "ivy
> leaguers" get together.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> 
> Newspapers.com has a citation for "ivy league" with a date of August
> 10, 1934. This date is based on the metadata in the database.
> Unfortunately, this date is incorrect. In addition, the problem is not
> obvious. The scans were probably created from microfilm and the text
> is degraded. The date is not visible on the image page. The date is
> also not visible on adjacent pages. Skipping forward to next issue
> leads to a front page with a clear date of August 16, 1934.
> 
> Great, thinks the naive researcher (in this case, I am the naive
> researcher). This must be an antedating for "ivy league". But, in
> truth, the page image order has somehow been scrambled and the August
> 10, 1934 date is still incorrect.
> 
> The text of the citation below is about a football player named Sid
> Luckman of Columbia University. This seems fine because Columbia
> University is in the Ivy League. The story stated that Mr. Luckman
> recently signed a contract to join the Chicago Bears.
> 
> But according to the sometimes reliable Wikipedia, Luckman was still
> playing for Columbia in 1936 and did not join the Bears until 1939.
> This timeline was inconsistent with a 1934 signing date.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Luckman
> 
> If you travel backward through the scans in the Newspapers.com
> database (instead of forward) you come upon an issue with a date of
> August 3, 1939. The correct date for the citation is uncertain, but
> the year is probably 1939.
> 
> I am posting about this citation because the scans and metadata are
> confusing and will probably mislead future researchers who have not
> been warned.
> 
> Incorrect Date: August 10, 1934 (Date is not readable in scans and is
> wrong; correct year is probably 1939 or 1938)
> Newspaper Name visible in scans: Soda Springs Sun (Soda Springs, Idaho)
> Newspaper Name in database: Caribou County Sun (Soda Springs, Idaho)
> Article: Sport Shorts: Luckman Signs
> Quote Page 7 (Page number is not readable in scans)
> Column: 3
> News Service: Released by Western Newspaper Union
> Database: Newspapers.com
> 
> [Begin excerpt]
> Sid Luckman, Columbia university's triple-threat half back, has
> finally decided to play professional football with the Chicago Bears.
> . . .
> The Ivy league lad didn't leap at the chance to turn pro. He seemed to
> take much greater pride in his academic training than in his athletic
> ability. It took quite a bit of persuasion to get him back in
> mote-skins, and sighs of relief were distinctly audible when he
> affixed his signature to a two-year contract.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> Garson
> 
> 
> On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 10:43 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: Antedating of "Ivy Leaguer"
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> This particular article includes all the schools we now think of as the Ivy=
>> League except Brown is excluded.  Other articles, going back to the very e=
>> arliest ones on Feb. 7, 1935, do include Brown.  Early proposals for a form=
>> al "Ivy League" sometimes mentioned Army and Navy as well.=0A=
>> =0A=
>> Nowadays, when the "Ivy League" has such strong social and academic connota=
>> tions, and Ivy League football is not of great importance in the sports wor=
>> ld, we forget that the grouping was originally based on football rivalries =
>> and football policies.=0A=
>> =0A=
>> Fred Shapiro=0A=
>> =0A=
>> =0A=
>> =0A=
>> ________________________________________=0A=
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Lauren=
>> ce Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]=0A=
>> Sent: Monday, December 01, 2014 11:18 AM=0A=
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=0A=
>> Subject: Re: Antedating of "Ivy Leaguer"=0A=
>> =0A=
>> On Dec 1, 2014, at 10:51 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:=0A=
>> =0A=
>>> Ivy Leaguer (OED 1943)=0A=
>>> =0A=
>>> 1936 _New York Herald Tribune_ 11 May 22 (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)=
>>  The Ivy Leaguers accounted for only 20 per cent of the I. C. 4-A prizes l=
>> ast year.=0A=
>>> =0A=
>>> Fred Shapiro=0A=
>>> =0A=
>> Does the context (i.e. a list of the prizes) make it clear which colleges w=
>> ere taken to be included within that designation?=0A=
>> =0A=
>> LH=0A=
>> =0A=
>> ------------------------------------------------------------=0A=
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org=0A=
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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