[Ads-l] wrangler noun (additional sense)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

After posting the citation for "cart wrangler" I checked to see if
this sense of "wrangler" was mentioned in the OED. I did not find a
solid match. There was the following additional sense:

[Begin OED excerpt]
Originally U.S. A person employed in the management, care, and
training of animals on a film set. Also in extended use.
[End OED excerpt]

The first bracketed citation was dated 1930, and the first citation
was dated 1937.

Maybe controlling a cart is analogous to controlling an animal and
therefore fits within this "extended use".

I found a 1927 instance of a "truck wrangler" referring to a truck
driver. Maybe controlling a truck is analogous to controlling an
animal and fits the "extended use".

In 1939 there was a "truckmen's rodeo" with a "Truck Wrangler Champ".
See further below.

Date: February 27, 1927
Newspaper: The Birmingham News
Newspaper Location: Birmingham, Alabama
Section: Financial, Automotive
Article: Squads Right
Author: John D. Dukes (Second Lieutenant 345th Infantry)
Quote Page 12, Column 1
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-news-wrangler/195100799/

[Begin excerpt]
Somehow we are willing to bet that the young man that plucked the
gasoline buggy of James Saxon Childers from the hopeless mire the
other day received his training hoisting army ration trucks from the
same sort of bog in France. And while speaking of bogs, the story of
an American truck wrangler is recalled.

This boy had been driving in a rain for several hours, trying his best
to make his billet on the Rhine before nightfall. The rear of his
blundering bus slid into a deep and delectable mudhole and settled
itself for a long quiet sleep.
[End excerpt]

Date: November 4, 1939
Newspaper: Wilkes-Barre Times Leader
Newspaper Location: Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Article: Truck Wrangler Champ
Author: INS
Quote Page 9, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/article/wilkes-barre-times-leader-the-evening-n/195100968/

[Begin excerpt]
Truck Wrangler Champ

Wayland, Mass., Nov. 4 --(INS)-- New England's first champion truck
wrangler is Edmund A. Barry of Boston, winner of the truckmen's rodeo
held by the motor truck club of Massachusetts. Contesting with a score
of other competitors Barry made the top score in a test of ability to
manipulate giant trucks and trailers. He wound up by backing his heavy
mount into a parking space providing only six inches clearance on each
side.
[End excerpt]

Garson

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