Fwd: an antedating "how to"?

[Dan Goncharoff]

>
> I have read the word "roundance" in he context of playing marbles. It
> refers to moving around the circle (of players) to get a better position to
> shoot.
> On May 24, 2014 8:37 PM, "George Thompson" <george.thompson at nyu.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       George Thompson <george.thompson at NYU.EDU>
>>
>> Subject:      Re: an antedating "how to"?
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> It occurs to me that "roundance" would be "round dance".  "Round
>> dance" certainly
>> could describe the drunk staggering in a circle.
>>
>> The OED recognizes two senses:  "A dance in which the dancers move in a
>> circular fashion; *spec.*  *(a) *a folk dance in which the dancers form a
>> circle (cf. ring dance n. <
>> http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/166079#eid25423142>
>> );  *(b) *a ballroom dance in which couples move in circles round the
>>
>> ballroom, such as a waltz or polka" and the new-fangled sense from bee
>> culture.  The OED doesn't have a figurative sense.
>>
>> But then how does the word connect with little boys playing marbles?
>>
>> GAT
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, May 24, 2014 at 2:17 PM, George Thompson <george.thompson at nyu.edu
>> >wrote:
>>
>> >
>> > I have found a number of antedatings while reading New York City
>> > newspapers of 1750-1850.  I have looked for signs that the editor of the
>> > paper thought he was being clever and up-to-date in using a word or
>> > expression -- putting the word in "" or italics or by introducing it by
>> > saying something like "as the boys say" or "to use a Kentucky
>> expression"
>> > (Kentucky was at the wild frontier at the time).  Often the word would
>> turn
>> > out not to be very new, at that, but it sometimes was the earliest
>> > appearance in American writing -- a thing the OED cares nothing about --
>> > and sometimes was an antedating altogether.
>> >
>> > Unfortunately, the typographical tricks can't be searched for.  A quick
>> > search of America's Historical Newspapers (Readex; formerly Early
>> American
>> > Newspapers) for "little boys say" turned up a word -- "roundance" --
>> that's
>> > not merely an antedating, but a word seemingly not in the OED at all.  I
>> > suppose it will have to be defined as "a word used by little boys when
>> > playing marbles", but still.   (I don't have access to the later
>> volumes of
>> > DARE.)
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >      [a drunk, lying in a field]  Presently he made an effort to rise,
>> > which, after a leeward lurch or two, he succeeded in doing -- to stand
>> > still however, was no easy matter, and to go ahead not much better; he
>> > therefore very wisely concluded to "take roundance," as the little boys
>> > say, playing at marbles, and with a tremendous flourish, off he went,
>> now
>> > east by south, then west by north, until he was brought to a stand [at]
>> the
>> > brink of a large clay pit, where he paused a moment, seemingly undecided
>> > whether to fall in, try to jump over, or to stagger round. . . .
>> >
>> >      "Cooling Off in an Old Field."  South Carolina Temperance Advocate,
>> > December 24, 1840, p. 99, col. 2
>> >
>> >
>> > GAT
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, May 20, 2014 at 3:48 PM, Beth Young <zbyoung at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Has anyone written an antedating "how to" guide?
>> >>
>> >> Last year, as an experiment, I offered extra credit to students who
>> tried
>> >> to antedate a word in the OED. I knew that the task wouldn't appeal to
>> >> every student, but I figured that there might be one or two who would
>> >> enjoy
>> >> the challenge. I thought that the activity would help students better
>> >> understand what's involved in this sort of research, and I wanted to
>> give
>> >> them an opportunity to do research with potential real-world
>> application.
>> >>
>> >> The activity did not succeed, for a variety of reasons. My better
>> students
>> >> chose not to try it. My weaker students did try it, but they tended to
>> >> provide "evidence" like an entry from another dictionary
>> ("Merriam-Webster
>> >> says the word dates from 1915"), a quotation from the OED itself ("OED
>> >> says
>> >> it means X but I think it really means Y") or a 21st century magazine
>> >> article that makes claims about how a word originated centuries
>> earlier.
>> >>
>> >> One student commented that she had picked the "easiest" words to
>> antedate
>> >> but still had no luck; turns out that she thought the easiest words
>> would
>> >> be the entries that the OED had just revised less than a year ago.
>> >>
>> >> A good class discussion could clear up many misconceptions, but my
>> classes
>> >> are almost always scheduled online. So . . . if I keep this activity
>> >> (haven't decided yet), I'll need to provide more basic information,
>> such
>> >> as
>> >> what counts as evidence and how one might go about antedating a word.
>> >>
>> >> Do you know of an already written "how to" that I could share? Have you
>> >> tried this sort of activity with students?
>> >>
>> >> thanks,
>> >>
>> >> Beth Young
>> >>
>> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> >> 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..
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> 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
>>
>


--
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