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

Mon Sep 10 13:14:23 UTC 2012

It may simply be that scurvy, adj., has a definite archaic feel today
while a back-formation in an 18th C. source might sound "modern."

But the 200-year silence is very unusual for a non-taboo term.

JL
On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 5:43 PM, 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:      Re: "scurve", noun, = 'contemptible person', 1730; not in OED
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 9/9/2012 04:30 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >No. But I recall thinking the word had an archaic feel when I first
> >encountered it
> >in Algren's 1935 novel in - Noooooo !! - 1968. It was one of
> >the first books I canvased, along with Farrell's Studs Lonigan trilogy.
>
> Interesting -- when I came across it by chance, I thought it had a
> modern feel (reinforced later by finding it in UrbanDictionary) and
> that the 1730 instance might be early and unusual.  Is it that a word
> that is rare seems out of place for whatever year one finds it in,
> and so must belong to some other era?
>
> Joel
>
> >JL
> >
> >On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 2:41 PM, 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:      Re: "scurve", noun, = 'contemptible person', 1730; not
> in OED
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > At 9/9/2012 12:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > > > John, I assume the 1730 American instance qualifies for HDAS!?
> > > >
> > > >You really know how to hurt a guy....
> > >
> > > Sorry -- I should have asked rather whether it was present in your
> > > archive of quotations.
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> > >
> > > >JL
> > > >
> > > >On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 10:22 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:      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
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
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> > > > > >
> > > > > >--
> > > > > >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
> the
> > > > > truth."
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> > > truth."
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