transfer--quick observation

[victor steinbok]

I was checking "transfer" in OED because I spotted a 1908 football use--one
that's still quite common in non-American references to moves or exchanges
of players between teams--but it's not antedating the current OED entry
(1895). But I notices something else.

2. d. The transference of a worker or player from one location, sphere,
> sports club, etc., to another; a change of place of employment within an
> organization.


1895    Football News (Nottingham) 2 Nov. 1/6   It is stated that the Forest
> have offered £70 for Bruce's transfer.
> 1923    J. D. Hackett Labor Terms in Managem. Engin. May,   Transfer, the
> shifting of a worker from one occupation to another.


These two are not quite equivalent and I'm wondering if their origins are
related (aside from the fact that both refer to removal of personnel from
one location and placing in another, with a common verbal ancestor). For
one, in US use these are "translated" differently--the former is a trade,
the latter--a reassignment, even within the narrow sports context. Even a
baseball "transfer" between the major league club and one of its farm teams
or between farm teams is termed "reassignment" (with occasional "transfer"
also heard). When an organization--such as a school district--investigates
the conduct of one of its employees and does not wish to let the employee to
remain in the same position, they "reassign" the employee to a different
position--or the employee accepts "reassignment". Still, occasionally, there
may be an interdepartmental "transfer"--although "transfer" usually refers
to money, not people (see transfer n. 4.a.).

But any exchange from one team to another--either for another player or for
cash or for "considerations"--is a "trade". Interestingly, in global
football (outside Major League Soccer) all transfers are made for
cash--i.e., a player goes to a new team and the old team gets cash
compensation. Even when the original contract has expired, a move to a new
team is still often referred to as "free transfer" (meaning that the new
team has no cash obligations to the old team). Because it is the league that
formally makes all transfers between the MLS and foreign teams, the MLS
clubs are insulated from transfers--but, internally, within the MLS, they
make trades, not transfers.

In short, I'm wondering if these two uses should be split up.

On a less interesting note, there are two meanings of "transfer" that are
not covered in the OED.

When purchasing a "vacation" or some other package, the terms of the package
usually specify whether "airport transfers" are or are not included. If they
are included, that usually implies that the passenger is given not only
airline tickets, but also a voucher to be presented to a transfer agency
(bus, taxi, train, etc.). In common understanding, it is this voucher or the
charges that this voucher carries (that would have to be paid separately)
that is referred to as "transfer", not the physical conveyance that it
covers.

The second usage is purely US. In fact, it was one of the first US-specific
English words that I might have learned. I am referring to bus transfers in
systems where one can obtain a paper ticket or voucher that allows a
passenger to board another bus or train for no charge or a discount rate
within a specified time period. These paper tickets are on the way out as
systems go with electronic ticketing, but they used to be quite common,
e.g., in Chicago and NYC. But the "transfer" was the piece of paper--ticket
or voucher--that permitted the conveyance from one route to another.

I found no equivalent for either of these two "transfers" in the OED.

VS-)

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