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

[Mark Mandel]

On Nov 20, 2007 11:05 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
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

I remember that one! Loved it. Thank you for reminding me of it.

OK, Google and Baen Books are your friends.
http://baens-universe.com/articles/The_Gnarly_Man has a free "preview":

 >>>
Hi! You're not logged in, so you're looking at a preview that contains about
1/2 of the full story. This story is from a back issue (Vol 1 Num 6: April
2007 [of the webzine "Jim Baen's Universe"); you can buy access to all back
issues of the magazine since its inception in June 2006 for $30.
<<<

The first sentence of the story is:
>>>
Dr. Matilda Saddler first saw the gnarly man on the evening of June 14th ,
1956, at Coney Island.
<<<

The Neanderthal is working in a sideshow as "Ungo-Bungo the ferocious
ape-man", and the anthropologist's first sight of him gives the basis for
her mental epithet for him:

>>>
The ape-man was squatting at the back of his cage. He dropped his chain, got
up, and shuffled forward. He grasped two of the bars and shook them. They
were appropriately loose and rattled alarmingly. Ungo-Bungo snarled at the
patrons, showing his even yellow teeth.

Dr. Saddler stared hard. This was something new in the ape-man line.
Ungo-Bungo was about five feet three, but very massive, with enormous
hunched shoulders. Above and below his blue swimming trunks, thick grizzled
hair covered him from crown to ankle. His short stout-muscled arms ended in
big hands with thick gnarled fingers. His neck projected slightly forward,
so that from the front he seemed to have little neck at all.
<<<

And I think this weekend I'll see if I have it in print somewhere in the
house, and renew my acquaintance with Shining Hawk.

m a m

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