29 Mar
2017
29 Mar
'17
9:05 a.m.
On 29 March 2017 at 17:05, Toby Thain via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> But you must have overlooked the intransitive definition below: "to search
> about and turn up something needed from whatever source is available".
> I'm pretty sure that's the sense Jim was using (and it's certainly not
> restricted to North America; I learned it in British English).
On Wed, 29 Mar 2017, Liam Proven via cctalk wrote:
No, it's a fair cop, I did notice that. I
specifically looked for an
American source today, but yesterday I didn't.
It seems very odd to me to talk about scrounging something that you
already own, though, that's the point.
It's amazing how isolated pockets of our cultures can be from each other!
"Multiple peoples divided by a common language"
I definitely grew up with "scrounging" meaning to forage/scavenge
something from one's own junk heap.
"I needed to add a cleat, so I scrounged up a cutoff scrap of 2x4"
(I wonder if "up" in that is important?)
"need a doorstop, go scrounge up a Timex/Sinclair"
Similarly, it often surprises me to encounter people who have
significant differences in nursery rhymes or idiomatic phrases from one
another. "But, EVERYBODY says it that way!"
For all of our international communications, we still end up with isolated
pockets of minor, but very definite, differences. Usually, but not
always geographically based.
My family was "bi-coastal", alternating between Berkeley and Washington,
DC. My PhD thesis advisor was British. So, I can mispell things in
several variants.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com