[Ads-l] "snupper" - derivation and definition?

[Nancy Friedman]

The author of the New Yorker article is a self-described Millennial. The
author of the 1927 book is, of course, long dead.

On Sun, Jan 9, 2022, 12:25 PM Charles C Rice <charles.rice at louisiana.edu>
wrote:

> I like the idea that someone who published a book in 1927 might be on
> Twitter. FWIW, I've been to quite a few estate sales in the New Orleans
> area and never seen or heard of a "snupper."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of
> Nancy Friedman
> Sent: Sunday, January 9, 2022 1:12 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "snupper" - derivation and definition?
>
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>
> I came across "junk snupper" in Lizzie Feidelson's New Yorker article
> about estate sales, published online January 7, 2022:
>
> https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-and-off-the-avenue/the-wild-wonderful-world-of-estate-sales
>
> I haven't been able to find a relevant definition or derivation for
> "snupper" in any of the dictionaries at my disposal. (Urban Dictionary has
> a fanciful entry for snupper = "snack" + "supper.") I did find a 1927 book,
> "The Junk Snupper: The Adventures of an Antique Collector," but the online
> excerpt wasn't very helpful. I've queried the author via tweet but haven't
> had a response.
>
> "Snatcher-upper," maybe?
>
> From the New Yorker article:
>
> In her book “Out of the Attic: Inventing Antiques in Twentieth-Century New
> > England
> > <
> https://www.amazon.com/Out-Attic-Twentieth-Century-Historical-Perspective/dp/1558497102?ots=1&slotNum=0&imprToken=f6bf2005-8525-1d6a-bf2&tag=thneyo0f-20&linkCode=w50
> >,”
> > the social historian Briann Greenfield describes how, at the beginning
> > of the twentieth century, when the value of antiques began to rise, a
> > middle-class cadre of enterprising “junk snuppers” began departing in
> > cars from urban centers to the countryside, where they knocked on
> > farmhouse doors and kindly offered to relieve inhabitants of any
> > mint-condition Americana. She cites a 1907 antiquing guide called “The
> > Quest of the Colonial,” which advises junk snuppers to identify
> > possible marks by looking for “the sight of chairs on a porch.”
> >
>
> Nancy Friedman
> Chief Wordworker
> www.wordworking.com
> http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com
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>
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