Re: Survival langauge

Evan Kirshenbaum wrote:
> "Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
[...]

(Ooops! Bad snipping: sorry.)

I still don't favour "dan" as a common noun: but only for the
negative reason that nobody seems to know what it is. The
range-cattle culture is so recent and so iconic that it seems
unlikely that very much of its language escaped unrecognised. It's
silly to pursue the words of songs too closely, I know; but "an old
dam" seems a slightly odd thing to say in the context.

I could actually believe anything, though: I suppose there could,
after all, be a wrangle about coulees and draws, too; and he wouldn't
have been travelling with only two named horses (and surely not
leading one of them) if he was dealing with the fiery and the snuffy
at the time. It's just a song, and I don't at all mind believing it
mixes up separate bits of buckaroo life.

> This seems the most plausible suggestion yet, especially if Tinsley
> really did find such early citations.
>
>>>> Purl Gurl - wearing her cowgirl hat and little else YEEE HAWW!
>>>
>>> I suspect that I'm not the only one who's beginning to suspect
that
>>> this is because clothing gets in the way when pulling theories
out.
>>
>> I suspect you may be joking.
>
> I dunno. That bit about "leading the life of Old Dan Tucker"
> certainly seemed to be pulled out of a part of her anatomy that
would
> be easier to get to without clothes on.

I hardly dare suspect you missed my irony. But that is indeed our
correspondent's almost invariable style of evidence- and
voice-production.

--
Mike.


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