penmanship = "authorial skill"

[Joel S. Berson]

All I said was, it's being RE-introduced.  :-)

Joel

At 12/10/2009 08:45 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Note that Dickens's use in 1844 is a deliberate pun, and that the OED had to
>rely on Jeremy Bentham for not one but *two* cites. The second adds nothing
>in the way of useful information about usage - a hint that cites of
>"penmanship" in this sense are extremely rare.
>
>Peter Lovesey's 1978 example - in a detective novel set in the 1880s - may
>not be
>a reliable guide to anything.
>
>Surely Bentham wouldn't have used the word in this sense if it sounded as
>illiterate
>to him as the current example sounds to me.
>
>But that was two hundred years ago, and this is now.
>
>JL
>
>On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 1:03 PM, 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:      Re: penmanship = "authorial skill"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 12/10/2009 12:44 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >Another "it had to happen."
> >
> > Or is it merely re-happening?  What about the OED's
> >
> > 2. The action, process, or style of composing a document or other
> > written work; literary composition, authorship. Now rare.
> > 1793 J. BENTHAM Mem. & Corr. in Wks. (1843) X. 292 The penmanship of
> > the statutes..has, every now and then, become the subject of a
> > dissatisfaction. 1818 J. BENTHAM Church-of-Englandism 329 The men of
> > law..by whom a part was taken in the penmanship of this Act. 1844
> > DICKENS Let. 27 Jan. (1977) IV. 32, I..have been so much engaged in
> > another kind of Penmanship, that I have not answered a letter this
> > fortnight. 1978 P. LOVESEY Waxwork 231 A report..would be polished
> > into a model of penmanship, rational and cogent.
> >
> > Of course, everyone is entitled to his distastes.
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > >A Barnes & Noble reviewer:
> > >
> > >2009
> > >
> >
> http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Where-Men-Win-Glory/Jon-Krakauer/e/9780385522267/?itm=5&tabname=custreview#TABS&usri=war+year
> > >:
> > >Without any discredit to Krakauer's penmanship and regardless of the
> > >reader's political stance, this book is an obvious political attack and
> > >all-out assault on the United States military....
> > >JL
> > >
> > >--
> > >"There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
> > >Platypus"
> > >
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> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"There You Go Again...Using Reason on the Planet of the Duck-Billed
>Platypus"
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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