"scrunch," v.t., antedating

[Wilson Gray]

I'm with you, Charlie, as usual.

-Wilson

On 7/8/06, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "scrunch," v.t., antedating
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I too (all my life) have heard "rench"--though I would have spelled it (certainly pronounced it) "rinch"--as a variant of "rinse."
>
> In the context of that "scrubbing machine," I'll bet the "u" in "runched" represents a barred-i.
>
> --Charlie
> ____________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2006 20:12:19 -0400
> >From: sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> >Subject: Re: "scrunch," v.t., antedating
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> >
> >>OED2 offers 1861 from the English journalist George A. Sala, but here's a
> >>slightly earlier example from NYC:
> >>
> >>  1856 _Knickerbocker_ (May) XLVII 509: His complexion looked as if it had all been made of the hardest and toughest kind of folds, which had been rubbed, and _runched_, and _scrunched_ down into shape like a twist of clothes in a scrubbing-machine.
> >>
> >>  "Runch" seems to be unlisted (var. of "wrench"?), but I haven't checked DARE.  I wonder what a "scrubbing-machine" was like in 1856? OED doesn't list it either.
> >
> >>  JL
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >"Rench"  was a commonly-heard variant on "rinse" when I was a kid.  Don't know what light this might shed here.
>
> >AM
> >
>
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