tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post1778535202899273111..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: graftlynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-12046873966118784532019-06-02T19:42:45.938+01:002019-06-02T19:42:45.938+01:00BrE. “Boodle”, in the sense of money (or better, l...BrE. “Boodle”, in the sense of money (or better, loot) is the title of a 1934 collection of Simon Templar (the Saint) stories. Shy-replyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01891566073375322808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-69226307399877425822015-10-02T09:09:02.137+01:002015-10-02T09:09:02.137+01:00Hi
I think both meanings come from the gemanic wor...Hi<br />I think both meanings come from the gemanic word, meaning a spadeful, but is defined by 'spit' which is a spade of earth that you would dig if you were digging all day... Eg a manageable load. A graft is a full spade. So heavier than a spit and both "hard work" and "grabbing more" . <br />Normal people dig spits, handworkers dig grafts. <br />Normal people dig spits, conmen dig grafts. Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01841433973009347624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-13876290103366374012013-11-22T08:53:32.815+00:002013-11-22T08:53:32.815+00:00"Graft" means "hard work" for ..."Graft" means "hard work" for me. My friend's grandma from Yorkshire uses this word very often (she describes herself as a "grafter" too). <br />I've never heard of the "corruption" sense though.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-80411154846594678292013-08-02T07:02:04.818+01:002013-08-02T07:02:04.818+01:00yank here who watches a fair amt of brit tv and li...yank here who watches a fair amt of brit tv and lived briefly in mother blighty, but had never heard graft in any positive/work sense -- with or without "hard" affixed -- until viewing the FR TED CHRISTMAS SPECIAL last week (OK, i'm a little behind). he indeed refers to a life of "honesty and hard graft".<br /><br />i figured i must be mishearing "craft" through his accent. until i googled.<br /><br />which leads me to wonder -- if OED is still undecided on the etymology of the work "graft", might it NOT be a corruption of "craft"? it certainly fits!<br />charlie tunanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-39277640818700094992012-03-08T19:17:34.586+00:002012-03-08T19:17:34.586+00:00Today's top story: "Intractable Afghan Gr...Today's top story: "Intractable Afghan Graft Hampering U.S. Strategy." (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/world/asia/corruption-remains-intractable-in-afghanistan-under-karzai-government.html)Tednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-56468278690730035362012-02-21T20:39:46.844+00:002012-02-21T20:39:46.844+00:00US resident here and I absolutely only know graft=...US resident here and I absolutely only know graft=work from British stuff. And it's <i>never</i> my first thought. So it's often either funny or confusing, as with this line from a farmer on <i>Dalziel & Pascoe</i> as he excuses his deliberately infecting his sheep with foot and mouth (to get the government money) by saying:<br /><br /> It took me thirty years to build this place, thirty years of graft.The Ridger, FCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01538111197270563075noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-3714471165118452792012-02-20T19:50:54.994+00:002012-02-20T19:50:54.994+00:00Meanwhile, from yesterday's New York Times: &q...Meanwhile, from yesterday's <i>New York Times</i>: "South Africans Suffer as Graft Saps Provinces."Tednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-22287660287258326582012-02-19T01:22:53.065+00:002012-02-19T01:22:53.065+00:00Annabel
I tried again and found it. The story can...Annabel<br /><br />I tried again and found it. The story can be viewed — at least on UK computers and possibly elsewhere — <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17064163" rel="nofollow"> by clicking here</a>. <br /><br />Almost at the end (02:54) Mark Easton speaks of <i>making prisons place of graft and toil while preparing prisoners for the outside world</i>. Near the beginning (00.24) he uses the quainter wording <i>honest labour</i>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-1352692748380065712012-02-19T00:58:40.520+00:002012-02-19T00:58:40.520+00:00Annabel
I looked for your item on the BBC News we...Annabel<br /><br />I looked for your item on the BBC News website. I didn't find it, but typing <i>graft</i> into <b>Search</b> produced interesting results:<br /><br />• A dozen stories of corruption — all in foreign (i.e. non-British) countries, mostly India.<br /><br />• Half a dozen stories featuring skin graft (real or metaphorical) and mistletoe graft, plus a couple about organ transplant.<br /><br />• Eight 'hard work' related stories — all set in Britain. Somewhat to my surprise, most use <i>graft</i> to denote the application' (or <i>slog</i>, I might say) needed to succeed — in sport (half the stories), in film making and in pop music: <i>"life-affirming graft rock"</i>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-84709555261094289562012-02-17T09:59:53.529+00:002012-02-17T09:59:53.529+00:00Did anybody else from the UK hear them use "g...Did anybody else from the UK hear them use "graft" on the news last night in the sense of work? It was in an article on prisoners working for next-to-no money.... I noticed, and thought of this discussion!Mrs Redboots (Annabel Smyth)https://www.blogger.com/profile/11270027663691257254noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-33056853766315930502012-02-17T01:26:11.893+00:002012-02-17T01:26:11.893+00:00Peter
Thanks for directing me to the jug band exa...Peter<br /><br />Thanks for directing me to the jug band examples. I'd forgotten how much In fact <i>boodle-um</i> and <i>beedle-um</i> there was in them. But it wash't confined to southern jug bands. Big Bill, Georgia Tom and others popularised a Chicago hokum band song in which <i>beedle-um-bum</i> is a noun. And there were solo performances by Ben Curry and Bogus Ben Covington (who may have been the same person).<br /><br />But these are all 'nonsense' phrases — even if, as you say, highly suggestive. The <b>verb</b> <i>boodle</i> is found in isolation. For a start there's another <i>Boodle It</i> I'd completely and utterly forgotten about: Willie (Boodle It) Right. And Jimmy Yancey recorded a tune called <i>Boodlin'</i>. I guess that makes the verb pretty unambiguous — nothing remotely related to selling votes.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-51284372697736876172012-02-16T11:04:36.682+00:002012-02-16T11:04:36.682+00:00Boodle was a nonsense word favored by Southern jug...Boodle was a nonsense word favored by Southern jug band musicians in the 20s.<br /><br />"I know this song don't mean a thing<br />just do that plain old Charleston swing, when you sing<br /><br />Toodle am toodle am toodle am now<br />Boodle am Boodle am Boodle am wow"<br />(Jack Palmer and Spencer Williams, "Boodle Am Shake" 1926) <br /><br />Of course, when I say "nonsense" I mean brimming with implied sexual tones both over- and under-. cf. "Beedle am bam" in "What's the Matter" by Memphis Jug Band. (Thx Mudcat.org)Peter Morkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11121433839641287863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-63797211150094342162012-02-14T13:39:36.122+00:002012-02-14T13:39:36.122+00:00I have just seen 'boodle' as the answer to...I have just seen 'boodle' as the answer to a crossword clue - informal money (and then an anagram of two other words) - in a BrE magazine.biochemistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-9321846642761364782012-02-12T13:07:01.868+00:002012-02-12T13:07:01.868+00:00Rich
How could I have forgotten the name James &q...Rich<br /><br />How could I have forgotten the name <b>James "Boodle It" Wiggins</b>?<br /><br />He was a decent but unexceptional blues singer who played the kazoo and harmonica a bit, but he made some terrific records in the late twenties with some of the best barrelhouse pianists of the day.<br /><br />Unless he was claiming to be a political fixer, it's hard to see what he meant by <i>boodle it</i>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-59229482868276978652012-02-11T19:24:38.508+00:002012-02-11T19:24:38.508+00:00David Crosbie:
Thanks for the further info on &qu...David Crosbie:<br /><br />Thanks for the further info on "boodler". I like the sound of the word, and think I shall try to revive it. I'll start by writing an angry letter to my local newspaper denouncing the boodlers in City Hall and in the county government. As my particular part of Alabama is rather famous for corruption, the letter should go over well.<br /><br />Incidentally, the Governor Jos. Folk cited by F&W was not a governor of New York state, as I thought, but a governor of Missouri. He was such a renowned anti-corruption reformer he was known as "Holy Joe." Interesting character.Richnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-25447304228190439392012-02-11T16:58:29.707+00:002012-02-11T16:58:29.707+00:00InE user here,
Am familiar with both usages i.e. ...InE user here,<br /><br />Am familiar with both usages i.e. 'hard work" and "corruption".<br /><br />In my society, the common usage and frequent interpretation today is "corruption" instead of "hard work" which is well understood in cricket watching circles and those schooled in British English.<br /><br />Perhaps a reflection of American English dominating new generations.Soulberryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15830619858224129215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-24453934538482761242012-02-11T13:52:12.690+00:002012-02-11T13:52:12.690+00:00Rich
The OED of 1989 and later does include graft...Rich<br /><br />The OED of 1989 and later does include <i>graft</i>='corruption' but all the pre-1933 quotations are from American texts or texts describing America or quoting Americans.<br /><br />The current OED also includes these senses for <i> boodle</i> <br /><br />2 a. <i>Counterfeit money. U.S. slang.</i><br /><br />2b. <i>Money acquired or spent illegally or improperly, esp. in connection with the obtaining or holding of public offices; the material means or gains of bribery and corruption; also, money in general. slang (orig. U.S.).</i><br /><br />In quotations from British and Irish authors <i>boodle</i> means simply 'money' — used like <i>spondoolics</i> or <i>dosh</i>. I don't remember ever in my long life having heard the word —but then If I had, the meaning would have been so obvious that it wouldn't really have registered.<br /><br />The agent-noun <i>boodler</i> is backed by two American quotations, but also one from the English Liberal politician CGF Masterman in 1909<br /><br /><i>The average citizen‥is not yet convinced that its [sc. Socialism's] adherents will make a better job of it than the ‘boodlers’ and ‘blood suckers’.</i><br /><br />It didn't catch on.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-36801324816492843932012-02-10T19:29:35.455+00:002012-02-10T19:29:35.455+00:00Curiously, "graft" in the sense of uneth...Curiously, "graft" in the sense of unethical behavior by public officials, is not listed in my 1899 ten volume Century Dictionary, or in the 1933 OED, but does make the grade in the 1909 Webster's New International unabridged. My 1929 Funk and Wagnall's has this citation:<br /><br />"The boodler sells his official vote or buys official acts contrary to the Law. He is a <i>grafter</i>, but a <i>grafter</i> is not necessarily a boodler. Grafting may or may not be lawful. It is either a special privilege exercised contrary to law or one the law itself may give."<br />Gov. Jos. W. Folk, NY Evening Post, Nov. 23, '05.<br /><br />I don't think "boodler" ever made it to Britain, and is nearly forgotten in the US.Richnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-4839013055851954552012-02-10T18:48:17.752+00:002012-02-10T18:48:17.752+00:00When I saw that the British expression "hones...When I saw that the British expression "honest graft" meant hard work, I was surprised, because I associated that phrase with the American Tammany politician George Washington Plunkett who famously defended certain practices now universally thought unethical. From the Wikipedia bio:<br /><br /><br /><i>He made most of his money through land purchases, which he knew would be needed for public projects. He would buy such parcels, then resell them at an inflated price. (This was "Honest Graft". "Dishonest Graft" according to Plunkitt, would be buying land and then using influence to have a project built on it.)</i>Richnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-92160327316649046242012-02-09T20:50:40.284+00:002012-02-09T20:50:40.284+00:00Yet another interesting article where I'm lear...Yet another interesting article where I'm learning some surprising differences between english dialects. I like this blog, just whish I had the time to read all the posts, thank you!Geckohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01723659901509670594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-7296928365126427762012-02-08T15:26:40.709+00:002012-02-08T15:26:40.709+00:00I heard a lady on BBC Radio 4 today describing how...I heard a lady on BBC Radio 4 today describing how her elderly mother has 'grafted all her life - she's not a scrounger, so why can't she get good social care from her local council?'<br />It's not a word I would use myself (BrE) but I do understand it in the work sense, and a grafter as a hard worker, doing something monotonous.<br />To me, hard graft is closer to a prison occupation - sewing mailbags, perhaps!biochemistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-23457268339441713612012-02-06T19:35:56.841+00:002012-02-06T19:35:56.841+00:00If I may intrude - as a French individual who stud...If I may intrude - as a French individual who studied English at University, I can remember learning the expression 'graft and embezzlement', the two usually joined together in press articles (individual fraud and organised fraud). I just checked a minute ago and indeed, I can find a lot of such occurrences on the net. <br />As for the horticultural and medical meanings, I came across them with copies of the Reader's Digest I used to get when I was young (just personal memories - what did you call them, Lynne ? ^^). <br />I'd never come across the sense of 'work' yet. Thx for the tip !<br /><br />(a lovely blog, this is!)Monique Picard (Mette)https://www.blogger.com/profile/05083074051154351710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-68547246978879176292012-02-05T23:55:26.744+00:002012-02-05T23:55:26.744+00:00I've never heard the doublet 'graft and co...I've never heard the doublet 'graft and corruption'. It's always been 'bribery and corruption'. <br /><br />'Sleaze' I'd regard as meaning 'grubbily disreputable', quite likely in a sexual way but not necessarily, but definitely at the lower end of the market.<br /><br />I've heard 'graft' used to mean 'corruption', but as an American word. If used by an English person, I think it would be used to set the scene somewhere in the US,just as a writer might use a word like 'gumshoe', 'quarterback' or 'tammany'.Drunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-23310358932619110472012-02-02T23:50:46.731+00:002012-02-02T23:50:46.731+00:00Kevin
But the Dutch word with this meaning is spe...Kevin<br /><br /><i>But the Dutch word with this meaning is spelt "gracht", at least in modern Dutch spelling.</i><br /><br />According to the OED, <i>graft</i> was a Middle Dutch form. The <i>gracht</i> form also dates from Middle Dutch but this wasn't the variant taken into English.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-54368450369020624932012-02-02T19:27:23.868+00:002012-02-02T19:27:23.868+00:00>> On a side note, why isn't the BrE ver...>> On a side note, why isn't the BrE version spelled "graught"? <<<br /><br />Now don't be daught, Ted..! ;-) <br /><br />Seriously, if there was an f in the OE then generally there's an f in the modern English too: e.g. OE æfter > Modern English after; gedæfte (gentle) > daft (foolish) -- with modification of the meaning, of course.<br /><br />So that OE verb græfþ (digs) > to Modern English noun graft (hard work) would not be a surprising development. Cf. also OE hæft (handle) > Modern English haft.<br /><br />Modern -ught, on the other hand, is, as xx suggests, a reflection of Old English -ht: e.g. dræht > draught; hleahtor > laughter; etc.<br /><br />David: >>Obsolete 'ditch/moat' graft is a Dutch word with Dutch spelling.<<<br /><br />But the Dutch word with this meaning is spelt "gracht", at least in modern Dutch spelling.<br /><br />On the whole question of BrE graft=work v. AmE graft=corruption, I'm coming increasingly to the view that the two graft words are etymologically unrelated homographs - the BrE graft deriving from the idea of digging, the AmE word from that of the word (originally "graff") which means a "shoot inserted into another plant". <br /><br />I must say that when, many years ago, I first heard "graft" being used in its American sense I thought of it as deriving from the idea of the horticultural "graft"; the picture that suggested itself to my mind was that of something smaller gaining sustenance by attaching itself / becoming attached to a larger "adoptive parent" body -- just as criminal activity feeds off legitimate business.Kevinnoreply@blogger.com