Fwd: "plugged, adj." - Word of the Day from the OED

[Victor Steinbok]

To imitate usage previously discussed here, I am /agnostic/ on the
participle issue here. Compare that to the OED 1888 example:

> 1888 Texas Siftings 3 Nov.,Ticket Agent—Can't sell you a ticket for
> that quarter; it's plugged.

This is the /only/ example in /any/ sense of "plugged" that has a form
of "to be" connecting it. If there is a case among the examples for
participle over adjective, this is it. I also believe that a
post-position "plugged" is closer to being a participle than other
cases, so, I suppose, I am somewhat inclined to agree with Joel, but I
thought it an important enough case to warrant an examination by
dictionary people, whose decision on this subject is, after all, definitive.

As for "[be*] plugged" versions, I came across literally hundreds of
them when searching for examples of plugged 1., but left them out as
participles, especially when there were perfectly obvious early examples
of adjectival use. This is particularly true for "unplugged", where
there is a distinction in /meaning/ being made in an 18th century
dictionary between the adjective and the participle "unplugged".

I also want to add that "plugged-in 4.b." may not mean just "informed",
in vernacular. Sometimes it means "connected" (as in, someone who knows
important people). These are, of course, related but not identical.

> b. fig. Informed; aware of current fashion, thinking, etc. Cf.
> switched-on at switched adj.3b.

I am yet to do any searches on this subject, so I'll post some examples
when I spot them.

VS-)


On 2/13/2011 11:48 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> At 2/13/2011 08:10 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>> http://goo.gl/rcnDl
>> The Merchant's and Shipmaster's Assistant: Containing Information Useful
>> to American Merchants, Owners, and Masters of Ships. By Joseph Blunt.
>> New York: 1822
>> Chapter III. Exchange. p. 66
>>> At BARBADOES, accounts are kept as at Jamaica ; Dm the currency is
>>> different: --an English guinea passes here legally for £1 10s.
>>> Od.--the Portuguese joannes for £5--the doubloon for $16. or £A 10s.
>>> Od.--and the moidore for £l 17s. 6d --and all these coins must have
>>> the same weight as at Jamaica. The Spanish dollar is current at 6s.
>>> 3d. Mutilated coins are out of circulation in the British islands,
>>> except at Grenada, where half-joannes *plugged* up to 74 dwts. pass
>>> for $7 33.
>> What's particularly interesting about all of these is that none of the
>> usage (other than the Bengali dictionary and the Indian court case)
>> implies in any way that the "plugged" coins are counterfeit or
>> worthless. They are standard albeit with possibly lower values than
>> other coins. So something is going on here that the OED description is
>> missing.
> In the example above surely the half-joannes are
> altered, and such alteration was
> counterfeiting.  (For example, colonial laws
> against counterfeiting coins use the word
> "altered".)  Coins did not have to be worthless
> to be counterfeit; they could be altered by
> clipping -- reducing their weight -- or by
> debasing -- adding or replacing weight in the form of a less valuable metal.
>
>> "half-joannes *plugged* up to 74 dwts. pass for $7 33.
> This must mean that weight was added ("up to" 74
> dwts) in the form of some less valuable metal,
> and the coins were passed for a larger amount
> ($7.33) than a half-joannes was legitimately
> worth.  Joannes (or Johanneses) were gold (and
> the OED has an 1839 quotation describing it as
> gold).  "dwt" is the abbreviation for
> "pennyweight" (according to the OED 1/20 troy
> ounce, about 1.56 grams).  Counterfeiting such a
> valuable coin must have been seen as potentially profitable.
>
> As Jesse knows, I participate in the class of
> those uncertain about participles vs. adjectives,
> but think the "plugged" here is the participle.
>
> Joel

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