[Ads-l] Word on billboard that one is not supposed to use (or mention). Allusions, anagrams, metaphors are probably ok.

Dave Wilton dave at WILTON.NET
Wed Jun 24 20:16:17 UTC 2015


It's just a variant spelling of "parbuckle," which is in the OED (which includes a cite of Smith's 1627 book).

There's also a citation from as recently as 1997 in the Daily Telegraph.

If you Google it, you get "did you mean parbuckle?" 


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 1:21 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Word on billboard that one is not supposed to use (or mention). Allusions, anagrams, metaphors are probably ok.

>From (Captain) John Smith's _A Sea Grammar_ (1627), pp. 21-22:

"The Canhookes are two hookes fastened to the end of a rope with a noose, like this the Brewers vse to [...]g or carry their barrels on, and those serue also to take in or out hog heads, or any other commoditie.  A Parbunkel is two ropes that haue at each end a noose or lumpe that being crossed, you may set any vessell that hath but one head vpon them, bringing but the loopes ouer the vpper end of the caske, fix but the tackle to them, and then the vessel will stand strait in the middest to heaue out, or take in without spilling."

Git that?

Thanks, EEBO!

JL

On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 12:55 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Word on billboard that one is not supposed to use (or
>               mention). Allusions, anagrams, metaphors are probably ok.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
>
> Has anyone seen a mention of the 1627 book that includes the word? Is 
> it possible the word is an invention?
>
> DanG
>
> On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 12:44 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole < 
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Word on billboard that one is not supposed to use (or
> > mention).
> >               Allusions, anagrams, metaphors are probably ok.
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---------
> >
> > Below is a short link to the article mentioned in Bill's message. I 
> > changed the subject line.
> >
> > Article: Artist Posts 17th Century Word on Billboard, Asks That 
> > Nobody Else Use It
> > Aurthor: Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska
> > Timestamp: June 18, 2015 8:50am
> >
> > http://dnain.fo/1QQe9ga
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > A Brooklyn-based artist posted a rare 17th-century English word on a 
> > previously empty billboard in Forest Hills =E2=80=94 but she wants 
> > to be th= e only one using it.
> >
> > Julia Weist said she found the word, which means "coming together 
> > through the binding of two ropes," at the Rare Book Division of the 
> > New York Public Library in a 1627 publication about vocabulary 
> > related to sailors and their trade.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 12:32 PM, Jonathan Lighter 
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------=
> > ------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: parbunkells (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---=
> > ------
> > >
> > > Link doesn't work, Bill.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Wed, Jun 24, 2015 at 11:29 AM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) < 
> > > william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
> > >
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <
> > william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL=
> > >
> > >> Subject:      parbunkells (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > >>
> > >>
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ----=
> > -------
> > >>
> > >> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > >> Caveats: NONE
> > >>
> > >> Not in OED
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20150618/forest-hills/artist-posts-anc
> ie=
> > nt-=3D
> > >> word-on-billboard-then-asks-that-nobody-else-uses-it
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > >> Caveats: NONE
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle 
> > > the
> > truth=
> > ."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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