"Clunker" not in OED?

[Sarah]

On 2011-02-19, at 1:55 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "Clunker" not in OED?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Well, now on-list instead of just to Fred.  (And how could I ever
> have overlooked "cash for clunkers"?)
>
> The following, alleged by GBooks/Snippet to be 1926 (English Journal,
> vol. 15), is I suspect correctly dated (the English Journal
> apparently started in 1912):
>
> "bluffer when he finds among the questions that general type to which
> even the class Clunker may attempt a satisfactory reply; it begins
> like this: "Describe the wreck of the "; "Name several
> characteristics of "; or "Trace the general ... "
>
> This may be a person as the "thing that is worthless, inferior,
> unsuccessful, etc." (the class dunce?).  But more context would help,
> and why "Clunker" is capitalized I can't guess.
>

It actually says "class flunker" if you look at the scanned image of the book itself. (The "fl" ligature is mistaken for a "C.")

S.

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