"Meerns" query

[A. Maberry]

Just looking through Jansonius' Groot Nederlands-Engels Woordenboek voor
studie en praktiek (3 vols.; Leiden, 1950), I find a reference from
Mijnheer to "Meneer" nothing under "Meerns". I don't know anything about
Dutch, much less Dutch dialects to know if it is a possible variant which
would involve metathesis.

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu

On Thu, 21 Dec 2000, Laurence Horn wrote:

> >Could it possibly be related to "Mijnheer(n)"?
> >
> >This is just what sprang to mind; an uneducated guess, as it were.
> >
> >Erin McKean
> >editor at verbatimmag.com
>
> I think Erin's suggestion of Dutch may be on the right track, to
> judge from this web posting (the only one that google turns up for
> "Meerns").  Unfortunately, my Dutch isn't really up to it, and my
> dictionary isn't on me at the moment.  Anyone else?  Would a San
> Francisco newspaper in 1913 really have been in a position to
> presuppose familiarity with Dutch category or address labels?  Well,
> this WAS some years ago...
>
> larry
>
>   ===============
> http://www.xs4all.nl/~odyssey/vm/persoonlijkspelweek5.html
> Typisch Meerns:
>
>                                        Heel fanatiek zijn in de dingen
> waar je van houdt. Zo
>                                        komen er iedere week weer
> duizenden mensen
>                                        naar het stadion om ons aan te moedigen.
>                                        Dat zijn toch mooie dingen.
> =================
> >
> >>     I have come across "Meerns" as a term of address in a 1913
> >>sports article but am unable to determine its exact meaning.  It
> >>does not seem to be listed in the dictionaries.
> >>
> >>     The word appears in the newspaper _San Francisco Bulletin_,
> >>March 11, 1913, p. 18, cols. 5-6, over the photograph of former
> >>baseball player Bill Lange. The relevant sentence is:
> >>
> >>'As Pop Anson would pause to remark, "I knew him when he was the
> >>equal of a bum baseball player they call Tyrus Raymond Cobb." Yes,
> >>Meerns, that was some years ago.'
> >>
> >>     Would anyone have any suggestions?
> >>
> >>---Gerald Cohen
>