shell-bark

[George Thompson]

J. B. = "Shell-bark" is in the OED from 1769, s.v. "shell, n."

I had searched for "shell bark" and "shellbark", but as lemmas, not in full
text.

J. B. = An intriguing and puzzling figurative extension.  Any relationship
to Old Hickory, prominent at around the same time?

Indeed it is, and damned if I know.

GAT

On Tue, Feb 7, 2012 at 12:00 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> "Shell-bark" is in the OED from 1769, s.v. "shell, n.", as "short for
> shell-bark hickory (occas. shell-bark walnut), a North American tree, Carya
> (formerly Juglans) ovata, having a rough shaggy bark consisting of long
> narrow plates loosely adhering by the middle; also C. laciniosa (Thick
> Shell-bark); also, the nut produced by one of these trees."  An intriguing
> and puzzling figurative extension.  Any relationship to Old Hickory,
> prominent at around the same time?
>
> The "Forcible Argument" is in the Morning News (New London), 1844 Nov. 15
> (EAN).  "Hoosier" became "hosier", there are some changes in pronouns, and
> instead of "and that I'll be squatawa'd if I'll stand it anyhow" the
> Morning News has the more understandable (?) "and that I'll stand any how".
>
> Joel
>
>
> At 2/6/2012 09:51 PM, George Thompson wrote:
>
>>     The Forcible Argument. -- "Gentlemen of the jury," said a hoosier
>> lawyer, addressing a real shell-bark jury, "I say that ere magnanimous sun
>> shines in the heavens, though you can't see it, kase it's behind a cloud;
>> but you know it, though I can't prove it; so my client, who rises airly
>> and
>> hunts coons like an honest man, has a good case, though he can't prove
>> it.  Now
>> if you believe what I tell you a bout the sun, you are bound on your bible
>> oaths to believe what I tell you about my client's case, and if you don't
>> then you call me a liar, and that I'll be squatawa'd if I'll stand it
>> anyhow; so if you don't want to swear false and have no trouble, you'd
>> better give us our case."
>>
>>     New-York Daily Express, August 11, 1837, p. 2, col. 5
>>
>>
>> "Shell-bark" seems not to be in the OED; I think it is in DARE.
>> "Hoosier" is in the OED from 1826, but note the typo in the quotation:
>> 1826    in *Chicago
>> Tribune<http://ezproxy.**library.nyu.edu:32445/view/**
>> Entry/88346?rskey=rFElqc&**result=1&isAdvanced=true<http://ezproxy.library.nyu.edu:32445/view/Entry/88346?rskey=rFElqc&result=1&isAdvanced=true>
>> >
>> * (1949) 2 June 20/3   The Indiana hoosiers that came out last fall is
>>
>> settled from 2 to 4 milds of us.
>> "squatawa'd" --- ???
>>
>> GAT
>>
>> --
>> George A. Thompson
>> Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
>> Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.
>>
>> ------------------------------**------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>


--
George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much since then.

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