ink eraser (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I'd imagine it refers to something like the top item on this catalog
page (1913 Keuffel & Esser Co.).  They are used to scrap ink off
vellum/parchment drawings. They are more or less obsolete, now, with
everything being done in CAD programs and large format laser printers
and plotters, but I've got a couple in my old drafting kits.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Victor Steinbok
> Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012 11:00 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: ink eraser
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      ink eraser
>
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------
> -
>
> Someone will have to explain the discrepancy. The OED:
>
> > ink-eraser n. a piece of prepared caoutchouc, or similar substance,
> > used to erase writing in ink or blots.
>
> And this:
>
> gothamist.com/2012/01/24/grave.php
> > Have you ever walked around the cemeteries of New York reading the
old
> > tombstone inscriptions? Well, if that's not your thing, we're here
to
> > point you in the direction of George Spencer Millet's grave in
> > Woodlawn Cemetery, which tells a tragic and unusual story. His
> > headstone reads: "Lost life by stab in falling on ink eraser,
evading
> > six young women trying to give him birthday kisses in office of
> > Metropolitan Life Building." This happened the day after Valentine's
> > day, on February 15th, 1909--which also happened to be his 15th
> > birthday. And to clarify, an ink eraser is not an eraser, it's more
> > like a knife.
>
> More at the link, but no real explanation on how a knife becomes an
ink
> eraser. But it sounds a lot like Crocodile Hunter's death. Stab to the
> heart and all that...
>
>      VS-)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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