[Ads-l] For want of an apostrophe ... [correction to the OED]

[Amy West]

On 3/28/17 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Mon, 27 Mar 2017 10:51:52 +0100
> From:    Robin Hamilton<robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM>
> Subject: For want of an apostrophe ... [correction to the OED]
>
> Not quite a hanging matter, but the absence of an apostrophe causes the OED to
> provide a false citation for MOB, n1, "†2. A loose informal garment for a woman;
> = dishabille n. 2. Also mob-dress. Obs."
>
> The problem with this entry is the first citation.  This reads, as the OED gives
> it:
>
> "1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue I. sig. F5v, Their Mobs, Scarfs, and Hoods all rent."

There's a style of historical cap called a "mob cap". "Mob" here makes 
sense to me not as a garment but as a cap: The list would then be all 
headgear.

---Amy West


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