"scurve", noun, = 'contemptible person', 1730; not in OED

[Jonathan Lighter]

> John, I assume the 1730 American instance qualifies for HDAS!?

You really know how to hurt a guy....

JL

On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 10:22 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> 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: "scurve", noun, = 'contemptible person', 1730; not in OED
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I did believe it wasn't just a nonce word, since I'd seen
> UrbanDictionary.   Google Books didn't turn up anything for me
> earlier than 1950 (I didn't probe later).
>
> John, I assume the 1730 American instance qualifies for HDAS!?
>
> Joel
>
> At 9/9/2012 09:23 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >1925 _Adventure Magazine_ (Dec. 20) 16: Ain't they the scurves!
> >
> >1928 Leonard H. Nason _Sergeant Eadie_ 226 [ref. to 1918]: Ah, that
> scurve.
> >He deserved a beating.
> >
> >1935 Nelson Algren _Somebody in Boots_ [rpt. N.Y.: Berkley, 1965]  95:
> That
> >blonde scurve ain't young no more, Red.  Ibid. 168: That's the way with
> >these cheap scurves every time.
> >1976 Clark Whelton _CB Baby_ [N.Y.: Avon] 9: If...New York City was dying,
> >it was because of people like those two scurvs [sic] in the Buick.
> >
> >2006 UrbanDictionary.com: _Scurve_ Word primarily used in Nebraska, short
> >from the disease "scurvey", a dirty disease, used to describe one who
> >rarely bathes, trailer trash, low income, goth-like, whining brats. Used
> to
> >describe a teenager or young person who smokes, drinks, and is involved in
> >other vices.
> >
> >The 1935 nuance is "slut."
> >
> >Why the gap between 1730 and 1925 I don't know. If I'd noticed an interim
> >ex. I'd have jotted it down.
> >
> >JL
> >
> >
> >On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 1:22 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > Subject:      "scurve", noun, = 'contemptible person', 1730; not in OED
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > "We have just published a Silly Rapsody of Puerilities,
> > > Impertinencies and Scurrilities, by way of a Letter to Mr Boylston;
> > > it is beneath any Answer, and serves only to expose a Scurve, this
> > > Writer, and his Friend Mr. Boylston whom he Ridicules by Burlesquing
> > > his assumed Title and celebrated Practice."
> > >
> > > Boston Gazette, 1730 March 16, 2/1.  EAN.
> > >
> > > "scurve", noun, = 'contemptible person', 1730; not in OED.  This is
> > > "scurvy, adj.", sense 2.a., "Sorry, worthless, contemptible. Said
> > > both of persons and things" (used by Swift and Smollet around this
> > > time, and Shakespeare earlier but not originally), transformed into a
> noun.
> > >
> > > The "just published ... Silly Rapsody" is Samuel Mather's
> > > anonymously-published "A Letter to Doctor Zabdiel Boylston,"
> > > defending Boylston against William Douglass's attack in his
> > > "Dissertation Concerning Inoculation".  Thus the "Scurve, this
> > > Writer", unnamed by but likely known to the BG letter-writer, is Samuel
> > > Mather.
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >
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> >
> >
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