"scrimshander" -- new meaning [was: misuse? (Or perhaps obsession)]

[Joel S. Berson]

Neat -- something new for the OED.

I also have never heard "scrimshoner" -- but then again, I've never
hear "scrimshander" either. :-)

Of the 111 (oops, now 107; oops, now 33) Google hits for
"scrimshoner", none appear to be actual uses.  Google Books has 3
actual uses, one a dictionary and the other two "The Oxford Companion
to the Decorative Arts", 1975.  Google Scholar has none.

For "scrimshander",  Merriam-Webster on-line has both meanings:  "1 :
scrimshaw 2 : a person who creates scrimshaw".  And there are many
Google hits, and not a few in Google Books and Scholar, for the sense
of worker.

Joel

At 5/10/2008 07:37 PM, G. Stella wrote:
>I've just been a lurker ever since I joined this list,
>but I'll speak up for once. I live in Barnstable, MA,
>and I've heard the term 'scrimshander' often enough.
>In my experience, it's the correct term for a
>scrimshaw artist. It's used by local heritage museums
>and members of the local arts community.
>
>I've never to my knowledge heard 'scrimshoner'.
>
>Gynn Silva
>
>
>--- "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail
> > header -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society
> > <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      "scrimshander" -- new meaning, or
> > misuse? (Or perhaps obsession)
> >
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >  From an article about a Nantucket scrimshaw artist
> > raided for
> > illegal ivory ("Paying a high price for a dying
> > art", Boston Globe,
> > May 10, 2008, page A1; quote from A12, col.2; also
> > found in cols. 3,
> > 4 (3 times), and 5:
> >
> > "For the small group of scrimshanders who still
> > practice on
> > Nantucket, continuing to carve ivory is about
> > preserving a way of
> > life and an art form."
> >
> > OED2 (as also OED on-line, dated 1989) has no
> > quotations for
> > "scrimshander" as a worker in scrimshaw, and defines
> > it as the
> > product, the scrimshaw, with the most recent
> > citation (with an "skr")
> > being 190.  For the worker, it has "scrimshoner",
> > with just one citation, 1898.
> >
> > So is "scrimshander" a misuse by the reporter
> > (perhaps from
> > mishearing "scrimshoner"), or a new sense?  (I'm
> > inquiring.)  It
> > clearly was so attractive that she used it 6 times
> > in an article of
> > about 1,000 words.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> >
>------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society -
> > http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>
>____________________________________________________________________________________
>Be a better friend, newshound, and
>know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it
>now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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