Gentlemen of the Pivot

[George Thompson]

Couldn't Gentlemen of the Pivot be pawnbrokers, or policemen? Both are
likely to come into contact with stolen goods.

DanG


A pivot is a part of a watch, so there is a connection there.  The writer
is supposing that the thief will try to sell the watch to a watchmaker.

GAT


On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 2:14 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> Couldn't Gentlemen of the Pivot be pawnbrokers, or policemen? Both are
> likely to come into contact with stolen goods.
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 20, 2014 at 1:24 PM, David Daniel <david at coarsecourses.com>
> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       David Daniel <david at COARSECOURSES.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Gentlemen of the Pivot
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Gentlemen of the Pivot are watchmakers? Bizarre, not a single hit on
> > Google.
> > DAD
> >
> >
> > Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
> > Subject:      Gentlemen of the Pivot
> >
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > ---
> >
> > Here is a circumlocution for "watchmaker", from 1771:
> >
> >             LENT by, or stolen from Isaac Heron, Watch-maker, about two
> > Months ago, a Silver-cased Watch, with Silver Face, nam'd H. Clay,
> London,
> > 3630.  If lent, -- 'twas not forever; and if stolen, -- may the Thief be
> > detected! or, Compunction rend his guilty Heart, 'till he restore it.
> >
> >             The Gentlemen of the Pivot, in whose way it may come, are
> > requested to have an Eye to the above Name and Number.  The Person who
> > takes it up, or gives Intelligence of it, shall be gratefully rewarded
> > by  Isaac
> > Heron.
> >
> >             New-York Gazette; and the Weekly Mercury, August 19, 1771,
> > supplement, p. 1, col. 2
> > I've not encountered this elsewhere, and it seems not in the OED.
> >
> > 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
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
George A. Thompson
The Guy Who Still Looks Stuff Up in Books.
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998..

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