[Ads-l] "old boy" = the devil + OED antedating of "Old Roger".

[Hugo]

>   The more I think about this, the more convinced I am that the term used was actually "cratter", and the sense was "old creature".

> JB:  I've looked only at the two 1890's transcriptions, and the manuscript Hugo provided to the list.  But in the manuscript I did not look further than the portion that used "old man", and I don't know whether Hugo's scrap shows "cratten".

http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/archives/ecca/medium/ecca1157r.jpg
http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/texts/tei/swp?term=cratten&div_id=n69.5&chapter_id=n69

It's the fourth line from the end, fourth word along (above "mother").
Looks like an "n" in the manuscript, and distinct from other "r"
letters. If not "cratten", it could be "craften" or "craffen", but I
don't think those are any more helpful.

Hugo

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