[Ads-l] Word: gamesmanship 1939

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Correspondent Daniel Gruber kindly sent me a scan of page 63 from the
book "Friends in Aspic" which contains another instance of
"Gamesmanship". This instance has an asterisk footnote, but the
footnote simply points to another chapter within "Friends in Aspic"
titled "Well Caught, Sir". This chapter contains the example that was
detailed in the previous message I sent to the mailing list.

Year: 1939
Title: Friends in Aspic
Author: Ian Coster
Publisher: John Miles, Amen Corner, London
Chapter: Art Family Robinson, or, The Little Daemon
Quote Page 63
Database: Google Books Snippet verified with scans from Daniel Gruber

[Begin excerpt]
One of the few games of billiards which I have ever won was against W.
Heath Robinson. It was won by pure Gamesmanship.* This match was
played on Heath Robinson's own ground, a quarter-size table. My
opponent played seriously, studying every shot through his horn-rimmed
glasses before he missed it. But he sank the red and me, every now and
then, and played some fantastic cannons.
[End excerpt]

[Begin footnote]
* See "Well Caught, Sir," for further examples of Gamesmanship.
[End footnote]

Gamesmanship example on page 63: The author discovered that his
opponent "often played with my ball by mistake". So the author waited
until late into the game. He pointed out the error when it recurred,
and his opponent "went to pieces as tennis champions crack up after
they have been foot-faulted".

Garson


On Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 3:41 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> There was a discussion thread about "gamesmanship" back in 2010.
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2010-September/102689.html
>
> The first citation for gamesmanship (noun) in the OED is dated 1947.
>
> Daniel Gruber in Germany saw the mailing list thread and sent me a
> message about a Google Books snippet match that I had identified.
> Gruber obtained the book and verified the match. He also sent me two
> scans. Below are the details. The excerpt helps to illustrate the
> meaning of gamesmanship in 1939.
>
> Year: 1939
> Title: Friends in Aspic
> Author: Ian Coster
> Publisher: John Miles, Amen Corner, London
> Quote Page 49
> Database: Google Books Snippet verified with scans from Daniel Gruber
>
> [Begin excerpt - please double check data and text]
> For seasons he captained the eleven of his Essex village, and he
> fitted them out with club caps. This sartorial extravagance was not
> just vanity. It was an example of what he calls "gamesmanship," as
> distinct from sportsmanship. Gamesmanship is the art of winning games
> by cunning against opponents with superior skill.
>
> Explaining the idea of the caps, Meynell said, "In every village
> cricket team there are always one or two excellent fielders, fellows
> who can throw the ball in accurately. Opposing batsmen get to know
> these men, and they can tell when they can take a chance on a
> throw-in. But by putting all of our team in big-peaked caps we stopped
> the sneaking of runs; the batsmen could not distinguish the good
> fielders from the bad, and so they were afraid to take risks."
> [End excerpt]
>
> The word "gamesmanship" also occurs on page 63 with an asterisk
> footnote (according to GB). I will try to learn more about this.
>
> Garson O'Toole

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