on the gang

[Victor Steinbok]

You must have mixed two separate points.

First, I don't find anything odd about "on the gang" references, in
general. Nor do I find it odd that sentencing to hard labor was
sentencing to the "gang". My part in this is quite clear. What I do find
odd, however, is that no contemporary dictionary--historical or
otherwise--makes note of that effect. Of course, virtually none of them
give a full etymology of "bulldozer" either.

My second point was that there were a few (more than one) references to
the "gang system"--and, in particular, to whites likely not willing to
participate "on the gang system", which was the last citation I gave.
This is quite a separate point. I am not sure what the "gang system"
entailed, but it clearly was unrelated to forced labor for convicts.

     VS-)

On 4/22/2012 4:48 AM, Wilson Gray wrote:
> In the good old days, referring to sentencing to hard labor - repair
> of roads, railroad rights of way, bridges, canals. mining, harvesting,
> and general maintenance of infrastructure - as being put, etc. "on the
> gang" was as commonplace as the sentencing to hard labor itself. The
> "chain-gang" is the most (in)famous such, since there were many kinds
> of work that could be done by men chained together. All you needed was
> a sufficient length of chain.
>
> IAC, IME, FWIW, referring to being part of a work-gang simply as "on
> the gang" is no odder than referring to having an erection as being
> "on the bone."
>
> --
> -Wilson

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