gnarly (was Re: Pasta monster gets academic attention - Science- msnbc.com)

[Wilson Gray]

Somewhat OT: back in the 'Fifties, I read a short story written by the
now-late, great science-fiction author, L[yon] Sprague de Camp, in
1939. (I read a 1953 reprint. I was too young to read in 1939.) The
story was entitled "The Gnarly Man." The gnarly man was an immortal
Neanderthal man who had survived into the present. At the time,
"gnarly" meant to me, among other things, "having a body (part)
twisted or bent out of its ordinary shape," like the hands of a person
with rheumatoid arthritis. So, I interpreted "gnarly" in this case as
meaning that, compared to that of an ordinary person, the body of the
gnarly man was literally bent out of shape, like that of a hunchback.

-Wilson

On Nov 20, 2007 9:28 AM, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      gnarly (was Re: Pasta monster gets academic attention - Science-
>               msnbc.com)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Nov 20, 2007 9:01 AM, David Bowie <db.list at pmpkn.net> wrote:
> >
> > From:    Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> >
> > > Did anyone else notice the word "gnarl" in that article?
> >
> > > "In one, the image of the carbohydrate creator is seen in a gnarl of dug-up
> > > tree roots."
> >
> > > I'd never encountered the noun before. OED has two noun entries for it:
> > > gnarl1. A contorted knotty protuberance, esp. on a tree.
> > > gnarl2. A snarl. (rare) [The citation is a dog's snarl, not a snarl in e.g.
> > > a person's hair.]
> >
> > I grew up[1] with the term, and I was familiar enough with it that I
> > always thought the term "gnarly"[2] was derived from it--knowing that it
> > was Californian (was it really?), it therefore must have been surfer
> > slang, and so was probably originally used in describing the condition
> > of a wave. (Same logic beneath my reasoning on where "tubular" came from.)
> >
> > No idea if my teenage folk etymologizing was anywhere near correct, but
> > these are the sorts of things that occur when your primary linguistic
> > contact with California are Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Zappa's
> > Valley Girl.
> >
> > [1] b. 1970, grew up in Southern Maryland.
> > [2] Yes, i came of age in the 80s.
>
> That would accord with the HDAS treatment, from "gnarly" = 'dangerous,
> difficult' (in surfing/skateboarding contexts) to "gnarly" = 'cool'.
> HDAS has cites for the former sense from 1977, and I've previously
> posted a 1979 cite for the latter sense:
>
> -----
> Washington Post, May 29, 1979, p. B3/6
> And one recent visitor from Southern California reported that 14-year-olds
> out there, which is to say the Thought Police of American popular culture,
> are approving things not as boss, hot, neat, bad, or tough but -- are you
> ready? -- "gnarly."
> -----
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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