busking

[Victoria Neufeldt]

I just made a quick search in our citation database and found a good number
of occurrences of the term in U.S. periodicals, with ref to performers in
U.S., in Atlantic, Newsweek, Publishers Weekly, Rolling Stone, People Weekly
(all that I can remember right now).  The cites are from the 80s and 90s.
Several I noticed included a reference to money.  The total number I would
guess as 30 or 35 cites, from a quick look at about the first 20 or 30 of a
total of about 80 hits (I was searching for "busk*" and found some other,
irrelevant, words, such as 'buskins').

Victoria
Merriam-Webster, Inc. P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102
Tel: 413-734-3134  ext 124
Fax: 413-827-7262

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> Of Frank Abate
> Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 5:04 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:
>
>
> RE: busking, busker
>
> 3 out of 4 of the US college dicts label this as "British" or
> "chiefly British" (AHCD does not).
>
> This is not conclusive, but it suggests a greater tendency to
> hear the term from Brits than from Americans.
>
> Many words are in a middle ground, used on both sides of the
> Atlantic, but more by one side than the other.  And usage within
> America often differs by region.
>
> Do others have hard evidence for busk in the US?  More than just
> personal knowledge of the term (which can be misleading)?
>
> Frank Abate