_Canvass_ > "examine, pore over, search"

Fri Apr 18 18:14:47 UTC 2014

I am still convinced that there has been more recent use of the word
'canvass' (or 'canvas') to mean a search, not just interviews.

Here is an example from 1941:

Military Police
United States. War Dept
War Department, 1941 - Military police - 160 pages
http://books.google.com/books?id=Ms8sAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA116&dq=canvass+police&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oWlRU8nqGfPjsASNsYK4BA&ved=0CF0Q6AEwBA

"If the make of the vehicle is known, a check on all such vehicles in the
area may lead to locating the one wanted. An immediate canvas of garages in
the area is another worth-while follow-up check."

DanG

On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 8:15 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: _Canvass_ > "examine, pore over, search"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> It hasn't been hurt by the fact that for at least several centuries, no
> connection between the noun "canvass" and *any* of the meanings in question
> has been obvious.
>
> So the Rohrschach principle of semantic change kicks in: "I don't know what
> the hell it means exactly, so why not this?!"
>
> JL
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 8:15 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> >wrot=
> e:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: _Canvass_ > "examine, pore over, search"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > The really fun part of the OED entry for _canvass_ (which inspired me to
> > use it in a class exercise to demonstrate semantic change) is the
> history=
> ,
> > from canvas (the cloth) to the use of canvas sheets for fun and torture
> > back in the early 16th c.:
> >
> > 1. To toss in a canvas sheet, etc., as a sport or punishment; to blanket.
> > Obs.
> > =EF=BF=BDTo knock about, shake and shatter thoroughly; to buffet; to
> beat=
> , batter,
> > drub.
> >
> > By the late 16th c. this began to allow for metaphorical readings, but
> th=
> e
> > route from tossing someone in a canvas sheet or thrashing them to
> surveyi=
> ng
> > a region to soliciting votes is pretty interesting.  Warning: tracking
> th=
> e
> > history may provide an unfortunate reminder of the 2000 presidential
> > election.
> >
> > LH
> >
> >
> >
> > On Apr 17, 2014, at 7:41 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
> >
> > > At 4/17/2014 03:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >
> > >> OED does a very poor job on police "canvassing the neighborhood." In
> > fact,
> > >> it's not there at all, unless you're happy with 7b, "To sue or solicit
> > >> (persons, a district) for votes, subscriptions, custom, orders, etc."
> > >>
> > >> See, "etc." could include "information." Works for me. Not.
> > >
> > > It works for me with "information", but not with the OEDs verbs (sue,
> > > solicit).  My notion of (the sense in question here of) "canvass" is
> > > "to search, inquire, for information".  Similar to Jon's Subject line
> > > (but more with the sense of "seeking" than "examining"), and to Dan's
> > > comment further below.  And different from the 4.b Jon cites next;
> > > "investigate" is OK; "physically" to restrictive: canvassed
> > > information can come from speech also.
> > >
> > >
> > >> As for the defined sense, "To investigate or examine physically" (4b),
> > it
> > >> is clearly marked "Obs.," with a single citation from 1652. Nada
> since=
> .
> > >> Odds that Wilson's cited journalist learned this usage in an unbroken
> > and
> > >> unrecorded line from the mid-17th century: zero.
> > >>
> > >> Moreover, the new example is closer in meaning to "search (an area)
> > >> carefully and methodically" than it is to "investigate or examine
> > >> physically," which is what the Spanish explorer Francisco de Ulloa was
> > >> doing, no more and no less, in Peter Heylen's 1652  _Cosmographie_ as
> =
> he
> > >> *explored* what is now called the Sea of Cortez:
> > >
> > > "Search for information" again.
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> > >
> > >> "The business having slept a while, was in the year 1539 awakened by
> > >> *Francisco
> > >> de Vlloa,* one that had accompanied *Cortez* the time before: who did
> > not
> > >> only search to the bottom of the *Gulf,* but having thorowly canvassed
> > all
> > >> the Eastern shores, he turned his course, and made as fortunate a
> > Discovery
> > >> also of the VVestern coasts."
> > >>
> > >> Heylen used "canvass" rather often, usually in the sense of "to
> > discuss."
> > >>
> > >> To "investigate or explore (physically)" is a plausible early meaning
> =
> of
> > >> "to discuss," though the OED (which see) does not say so.
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Wed, Apr 16, 2014 at 5:52 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> > -----------------------
> > >> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> > >> > Subject:      Re: _Canvass_ > "examine, pore over, search"
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >> >
> > >> > There is an older meaning of canvass that means to search or
> > scrutinize.
> > >> > Back in the 19th century, it was the first meaning. Check the 1828
> > >> > Webster's.
> > >> >
> > >> > DanG
> > >> >
> > >> >
> > >> > On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 8:57 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > >> >
> > >> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> > > -----------------------
> > >> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> > > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> > >> > > Subject:      Re: _Canvass_ > "examine, pore over, search"
> > >> > >
> > >> > >
> > >> >
> > >>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >> > >
> > >> > > On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 8:12 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> > >> > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
> > >> > > >wrote:
> > >> > >
> > >> > > > "canvass the area"
> > >> > >
> > >> > >
> > >> > > That's a clip of "canvass, i.e. "interview," the [residents of]
> th=
> e
> > area
> > >> > > [to see what, if anything, they know about the crime]." Since
> > deserts are
> > >> > > called "deserts" because they're deserted, I can't wrap my mind
> > around
> > >> > the
> > >> > > concept of "canvassing" a desert to see what, if anything, it
> know=
> s
> > about
> > >> > > the  location of the body of a murder victim or for anything else
> > that it
> > >> > > may know. Others may not have this problem.
> > >> > >
> > >> > > Youneverknow.
> > >> > >
> > >> > > --
> > >> > > -Wilson
> > >> > > -----
> > >> > > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange
> > complaint to
> > >> > > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> > >> > > -Mark Twain
> > >> > >
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> > >> > >
> > >> >
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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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>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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