Rat-tail(ed) [comb and] broom

[Wilson Gray]

That's the right comb. It's the full-sized pushbroom that's the
ignorant stick. It's the handier ooblect that sppears to have been
inspired by the pushbroom that's called a rat-tailed broom. I have to
remember to ask my wife the name of a peculiak kind of brush that she
has, but has never used. WAG: it's something used to brush crumbs off
a tablecloth. I was going to use it to brush spilled kitty crackers
off the kitchen floor till she broke nasty on me.

-Wilson

On Wed, May 5, 2010 at 10:51 AM, 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: Rat-tail(ed) [comb and] broom
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 5/4/2010 09:36 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>My mother also used a type of comb that she called a "rat-tailed"
>>comb. She was also an East-Texan: born in Longview, reared in
>>Marshall.
>
> Did the comb look like and was it used like the
> one in the video one can see on the web?  (Google "rat-tail comb".)
>
> I associate "rat-tail comb" with one having a
> long handle (as contrasted with one having
> bristles up to each end), but not being much into
> feminine hair styling I was not familiar with the
> ratty tail (narrow diameter, too narrow for a
> facile handle) and the use videoed.
>
> I have something similar to Wilson's description
> of his "ignorance stick", only it is of course
> not pushed, that has soft "bristles" and is
> useful for cleaning up fine particles.  I too,
> like his wife, call it a "dust broom" (NY City),
> not a "rat-tail broom".  There's a picture of
> something similar to mine at
> http://www.bobbyberkhome.com/show_product/25413/?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=datafeed&utm_term=25413
>
> Joel
>
>
>>-Wilson
>>
>>On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 8:43 PM, Darla Wells <lethe9 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the
>> mail header -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Darla Wells <lethe9 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      Re: Rat-tail(ed) broom
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > never heard that one, but we use _rat-tailed comb_ a whole lot
>> > Darla
>> >
>> > 2010/5/4 Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
>> >
>> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> >> -----------------------
>> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> >> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>> >> Subject:      Rat-tail(ed) broom
>> >>
>> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
>> > ------
>> >>
>> >> This is probably more a DARE thing than an HDAS type of thing.
>> >>
>> >> There are only three hits that Google considers to be relevant.
>> >>
>> >> IAC, in Saint Louis, _rat-tailed broom_, like "whisk broom," is the
>> >> only name used for this handy object. Unfortunately, it's not likely
>> >> to come up as the subject of a random conversation. So, I have no idea
>> >> whether this handy form of broom is known / used elsewhere, perhaps
>> >> under a different name.
>> >>
>> >> Because it comes in so handy (we have cats), I *keeps* me a rat-tailed
>> >> broom. I've asked my wife about her familiarity with this tool and she
>> >> *thinks* that it *may* be called a "dust broom" in in NE PA.
>> >>
>> >> IAC, it looks roughly like an "ignorant stick" / "ignorance stick" -
>> >> pushbroom - with the handle removed and a third or so of the bristles
>> >> removed from the head, with the empty space carved, so to speak, into
>> >> a handle.
>> >>
>> >> BTW, I once read somewhere - Mario Pei, yet again? - that "ignorant
>> >> stick" originally referred to the spade as a tool of ditch-diggers.
>> >> But, IME, it was:
>> >>
>> >> "... pushing the ignorant stick ..."
>> >>
>> >> "What's that?"
>> >>
>> >> "Doing porter-work."
>> >>
>> >> -Wilson
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> -Wilson
>> >> =96=96=96
>> >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"=96=96a strange complaint t=
>> > o
>> >> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>> >> =96Mark Twain
>> >>
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>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --=20
>> > If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible
>> > warning. -Catherine Aird
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>-Wilson
>>­­­
>>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.
>>­Mark Twain
>>
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>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-Wilson
–––
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.
–Mark Twain

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