[Ads-l] "clawbacked"

Mon Jun 19 13:56:51 UTC 2023

Thanks Victor & Garson for the further discussion of this.

This may be a "duh" point, but that solid form "clawbacked" seems to be 
happening in the participle (would that be the term used by Huddleston & 
Pullum) form: "has been clawbacked" vs. "has been clawed back",  or 
"clawbacked pensioner" vs. "clawed-back pensioner" so perhaps that's the 
(re)analysis that speakers are making for this form. I think that may be 
going on in that instance that I spotted: "could be 'clawbacked'" vs. 
"could be clawed back".

Thanks Victor for checking the Globe article: so some editor at 
Commonwealth Magazine used the solid form, but also put it in "scare 
quotes" ( :- ) ) for some reason: either because of it being a financial 
term or they were uncertain of the form, perhaps?

---Amy West

On 6/18/23 00:00, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Sat, 17 Jun 2023 18:35:12 -0400
> From:    ADSGarson O'Toole<adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: "clawbacked"
>
> The OED mentions "claw back" under the verb "claw". The verb endings
> are applied to "claw", e.g., "clawed back".
>
> [Begin OED excerpt]
> claw, v.
> 2  a. To seize, grip, clutch, or pull with claws. Also figurative, to
> claw back, to regain gradually or with great effort; to take back (an
> allowance by additional taxation, etc.); to claw down, to pull down,
> to defeat; to shoot down (an aeroplane, etc.).
>
> 1953   Economist 21 Feb. 499/1   The Government would also make sure
> that..such tax relief was clawed back from surtax payers.
>
> 1957   Economist 30 Nov. 804/2   The Commercial Bank is engaged on a
> nationalist enterprise—clawing back from the Sassenachs, control of
> one of Scotland's banks.
> [End OED excerpt]
>
> Interestingly, the OED also has an entry for "claw-back" as a verb.
> But the existence of the verb is due to the
> misquotation/misunderstanding from 1589 containing "Clawbackes"
>
> [Begin OED excerpt]
> claw-back, v.
> imagined by Richardson, from a misquotation of Warner (see claw-back
> n. 1a, quot. 1589, where R. has clawback as a verb), and uncritically
> copied by subsequent compilers.
> [End OED excerpt]
>
> [Begin OED excerpt]
> claw-back, n.
> 1 a. One who claws another's back (see claw v. 4); a flatterer,
> sycophant, parasite, ‘toady’.
>
> 1589   W. Warner Albions Eng. (new ed.) v. xxv. 112   [It] doth make
> thy Foes to smile, Thy friends to weepe, and Clawbackes thee with
> Soothings to begile.
> [End OED excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Sat, Jun 17, 2023 at 6:15 PM ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> Interesting topic, Amy and Victor.
>> The phrase "claw-backed farrier's hammer" occurred in 1893.
>> Here is an instance of  "clawbacked" with a financial interpretation
>> in a Canadian newspaper in 1993.
>>
>> Date: June 18, 1993
>> Newspaper: The Windsor Star
>> Newspaper Location: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
>> Section: Talking Point
>> Article: 'Clawbacked' fight back
>> Author: C. McIntyre (Essex)
>> Quote Page A7, Column 2
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> When I read Georgina Woltz's Cuts Should Target Political Pensions
>> (June 12), I wanted to stand up and cheer.
>> As a 77-year-old "clawbacked" pensioner, such as Ms. Woltz eloquently
>> describes, I (and, I suspect, many others who are similarly taxed) can
>> affirm that I would not object to the enforced clawback of part of my
>> OAS pension if I could be assured that this extra taxation would be
>> wholly applied either to reduce the deficit or for the benefit of
>> those in genuine need.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Below is "clawbacked" with a financial interpretation in a Canadian
>> newspaper in 1995.
>>
>> Date: January 11, 1995
>> Newspaper: Times Colonist
>> Newspaper Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
>> Article: Welfare: Child tax benefit won't work
>> Author: Owen Lippert
>> Quote Page A5, Column 1
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> LLOYD AXWORTHY, in his discussion paper, Improving Social Security in
>> Canada, suggests a Child Tax Benefit (CTB) might replace Ottawa's
>> current Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) funding of provincial and
>> municipal welfare systems. A CTB would provide a cheque to all low
>> income people (on welfare or not) with children. It would gradually be
>> "clawbacked" the higher the family income.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Below is the phrase "downsized, claw-backed and NAFTAed" in 1996.
>>
>> Date: October 21, 1996
>> Newspaper: The Vancouver Sun
>> Newspaper Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
>> Section: Opinion
>> Article: GM has more than its share of carrots
>> Author: Roger Henning (Summerland)
>> Quote Page A11, Column 5
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> Give us a break with this two-dimensional, cartoon analysis of
>> staggering profits versus even more staggering profits. GM's profits
>> were $1.4 billion last year. Canada's labor cost growth was the lowest
>> of G-7 countries. Workers here have been downsized, claw-backed and
>> NAFTAed into beggary.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Below is an instance of "clawbacking" in 2000 in Canada.
>>
>> Date: December 13, 2000
>> Newspaper: National Post
>> Newspaper Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
>> Article: Jean Chrétien's 102nd lie was a whopper
>> Author: William Watson
>> Quote Page C15, Column 5
>> Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>> [Begin excerpt]
>> The pattern is that, with a 50% rate, the $10,000 guarantee doesn't
>> phase out until you hit $20,000. Fifty per cent may sound steep. Only
>> rich people are supposed to lose half what they make, presumably. But
>> in fact, with all the clawbacking of social benefits and tax credits
>> these days, low-income folk often face taxback rates well in excess of
>> 50, which presumably discourages them from working.
>> [End excerpt]
>>
>> Garson
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 15, 2023 at 7:25 PM Amy West<medievalist at w-sts.com>  wrote:
>>> Spotted this in the 14 June newsletter from CommonWealth Magazine:
>>>
>>> <begin quote>
>>>
>>>    * The Healey administration scrambled to quickly earmark $80 million
>>>      <https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001XztNcaIq-zt8eBqm_sAegZ34MP56uGeu7ihBh3CxVv0ZSgiucytMY9VLMkLBLAnweT8mAfQgLfYaSaD9XGpjeNOirzxRHSHHNygs89teyPM3hZk6Kna-dGFNkiEgzX5eQgHlEZqs0yX-gWoYZe-7q-DI33aawXv5TkkczLh9n4rpzJOtLMzR_YJXsupBxefjbaqDBPQH1Vt2g03vuUpUmrpehQ--kaK0f3Ngw8kHAkec642WjQP0HtSzgYYY-QeTiDFMfoWLh_PaF72yL8e_Iz-nES4KlwtD&c=O7DVjXmxedqo2JnFnJ3YkrN6cX-xEdxYyMR7mgEEDRRTNk5_AQvW3g==&ch=sVPkTeEDW_kks-exIyyRWBwY1ZkcWbGi0vRafaSliT972gl4DmMGeA==>in
>>>      unspent federal COVID relief funds before the money could be
>>>      “clawbacked” by the feds under terms of the recently passed debt
>>>      limit deal. (Boston Globe)
>>>
>>> <end quote>
>>>
>>> I'm noting the "clawbacked" instead of "clawed back". I no longer
>>> maintain a subscription to the Globe so can't see if it's in the
>>> original or was done by the Commonwealth Magazine newsletter writer.
>>>
>>> ---Amy West
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society -http://www.americandialect.org

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