grocers' poles [Was: "can of corn"]

[Jonathan Lighter]

If the Giraffe - or something like it - first appeared around 1916, it
would be well in line with a 1932 appearance of the then-novel baseball
term.

I can't think of an alternative origin, which means little, but use of the
Giraffe  was an everyday occurrence. Those shelves were high.

JL




On Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 10:56 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: grocers' poles [Was: "can of corn"]
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The etymology for "can of corn" that involves a reaching device used
> by grocers is fun and vivid, but it is also unconvincing to me. I have
> not seen any substantive citations to support it. Is it an
> etymythology?
>
> Here is a 1916 citation advertising a "Giraffe Shelf Reacher". Hence
> reaching devices with jaws and rubber grippers for grocers did exist
> before the 1930s.
>
> Date: August 1916
> Title: Hardware Dealers' Magazine
> Volume: 46
> Number: 2
> Quote Page: 382
> Publisher: Daniel T. Mallett at 253 Broadway, New York
> Database: Google Books
>
> http://bit.ly/1zc7oac
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=Bpg7AQAAMAAJ&q=%22Giraffe+are%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Giraffe Shelf Reacher
>
> The Bridgeport Hardware Mfg Corporation, Bridgeport, Conn., are
> placing on the market a device which they describe as "needed in every
> store in the land." It is the Giraffe Shelf Reacher - no doubt so
> aptly named by a naturalist who has seen the neck of the animal named
> when in useful operation. The mission of the Reacher can be understood
> at a glance at the accompanying illustration. The manufacturers say:
> "Getting goods from the top shelf has always been a problem in stores,
> etc. The Giraffe is the solution. It provides a quick easy way of
> taking bottles, cans, lamp chimneys, bags or boxed goods from top
> shelves, four feet out of reach, and bringing them to the counter in
> an instant...
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 10:17 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: grocers' poles [Was: "can of corn"]
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > At 8/22/2014 08:09 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> >>Re: "Burt L. Standish"
> >>
> >>I found a recent paperback copy of a Standish-Merriwell in a used
> bookstore
> >>in the '70s.
> >>
> >>Wow! It had more antedatings than any book I'd ever seen! Of course it
> was
> >>still set in the 1890s and had the original pub date on display.
> >>
> >>My naivete soon became clear. A 1960s reviser had updated  the '90s lingo
> >>to make it more interesting and readable for today's youth.
> >>
> >>Turns out the whole series of "reprints" was like that.
> >>
> >>A few years ago, my wife found a recent reprint of a book she'd liked in
> >>grade-school, one of the "Elsie Dinsmore" series by Martha Finley.
> >>
> >>Same title and everything. Same setting in the nostalgic past.
> >>
> >>You can imagine her horror when she found it to be completely modernized
> >>and heavily Christianized too.
> >>
> >>The various newspaper DBs I can access all cite "can of corn" from the
> same
> >>1937 journalistic list of baseball slang. I haven't noticed anything
> >>earlier.
> >>
> >>Those grocers' poles with the rubber-tipped clasp at the end were indeed
> >>"neat" (as we used to say).
> >
> > The reprint calls them "cool", and names them "Nifty Nabbers".
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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