McCarthy: a shadetree sawbones

[Marius Hancu]

Hello:

~~~
[Boy journeying across Texas, then in Mexico, in an irregular military
company. He switches to a 2nd outfit. Brown is one of the mercenaries
and he has an arrow in him.]

The kid drew his knife and cut away the bloody point deftly and handed
it up. Brown held it to the firelight and smiled. The point was of
hammered copper and it was cocked in its blood-soaked bindings on the
shaft but it had held.

Stout lad, ye'll make a shadetree sawbones yet. Now draw her.

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
~~~

"a shadetree sawbones": a surgeon, but "shadetree"?

Thanks.
--
Marius Hancu

[Tony Cooper]

That's a common term that is still used in the US. A "shadetree
(term) is someone who does a particular job, but is not a professional
and doesn't have a store or office in which he does it.

The most common use is "shadetree mechanic". That's a guy who you pay
to fix your car but doesn't have a shop. He'll do the repairs in his
driveway, his garage, or out in his yard under a shadetree.

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando FL

[Horace LaBadie]

In article <l6u4je$otn$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,

Armchair detective, jailhouse lawyer.

Someone who is not formally of the profession, and whose office is in
whatsoever place. An amateur who practices surgery under the shade of a
tree.

[Jerry Friedman]

Or he just works on his own car(s), I think.

I didn't see this use of "shadetree" or "shade tree" in the first six
pages of hits at Google Books, and the first one at COHA is from 1969,
though as its "shade-tree psychoanalysis" the term must have been
established already for mechanics, etc. Likewise no 19-century hits at
GB for "shadetree mechanic/surgeon/sawbones/doctor" and the same with
"shade tree" (which includes "shade-tree"). I wonder whether this is a
rare anachronism from McCarthy in dialogue. (Obviously he has no
objection to anachronisms in the narrative.)

--
Jerry Friedman

[Tony Cooper]

I've never heard it used to describe someone who just works on his own
vehicles. It's usually used to berate someone who had a bargain job
that didn't work out well. Like a bad paint job by a shadetree body
man or a mechanical repair by a shadetree mechanic.

It often pops up on the Judge shows where someone is suing for a
botched job, and the Judge (Marilyn, Judy, etc) says that's what you
get for using a shadetree mechanic.

[Jerry Friedman]

On 11/24/13 8:10 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:
> On Sun, 24 Nov 2013 19:30:18 -0700, Jerry Friedman
> <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> On 11/24/13 5:21 PM, Tony Cooper wrote:

[/Blood Meridian/]

>>>> "a shadetree sawbones": a surgeon, but "shadetree"?
>>>
>>> That's a common term that is still used in the US. A "shadetree
>>> (term) is someone who does a particular job, but is not a professional
>>> and doesn't have a store or office in which he does it.
>>>
>>> The most common use is "shadetree mechanic". That's a guy who you pay
>>> to fix your car but doesn't have a shop. He'll do the repairs in his
>>> driveway, his garage, or out in his yard under a shadetree.
>>
>> Or he just works on his own car(s), I think.
>
> I've never heard it used to describe someone who just works on his own
> vehicles. It's usually used to berate someone who had a bargain job
> that didn't work out well. Like a bad paint job by a shadetree body
> man or a mechanical repair by a shadetree mechanic.
>
> It often pops up on the Judge shows where someone is suing for a
> botched job, and the Judge (Marilyn, Judy, etc) says that's what you
> get for using a shadetree mechanic.

Here's an example about "doing your own tune-ups" to save money:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Uc8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA179

And another that mentions "how often you should change your oil".

http://books.google.com/books?id=XAhzcyPGO1wC&pg=PA65

Those people probably don't get onto Judge shows so often, though.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Tony Cooper]

On Sun, 24 Nov 2013 20:28:00 -0700, Jerry Friedman

I'll stick with the most common use.

[Snidely]

Horace LaBadie explained on 11/24/2013 :

But, like Jerry, I suspect a phrase-out-of-time (although I won't
provide cites as good like his). And like Jerry, I've associated it
with self-trained and often do-it-yourself mechanics; there's a show
somewhere on cable called "Shadetree Mechanic", and my impression from
seeing it during channel surfing is that it's audience is
do-it-yourselfers.

"Armchair detective" would be another anachronism if it appeared in
this book, but "jailhouse lawyer" goes back at least as for as
Hollywood Westerns.

/dps

--
"This is all very fine, but let us not be carried away be excitement,
but ask calmly, how does this person feel about in in his cooler
moments next day, with six or seven thousand feet of snow and stuff on
top of him?"
_Roughing It_, Mark Twain.

[Marius Hancu]

On Monday, November 25, 2013 12:10:50 AM UTC-5, Snidely wrote:
> Horace LaBadie explained on 11/24/2013 :
>
>

> >> ~~~
>
> >> [Boy journeying across Texas, then in Mexico, in an irregular military
>
> >> company. He switches to a 2nd outfit. Brown is one of the mercenaries
>
> >> and he has an arrow in him.]
>
> >>
>
> >> The kid drew his knife and cut away the bloody point deftly and handed
>
> >> it up. Brown held it to the firelight and smiled. The point was of
>
> >> hammered copper and it was cocked in its blood-soaked bindings on the
>
> >> shaft but it had held.
>
> >>
>
> >> Stout lad, ye'll make a shadetree sawbones yet. Now draw her.
>
> >>
>
> >> Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
>
> >> ~~~
>
> >>
>
> >> "a shadetree sawbones": a surgeon, but "shadetree"?
>
> >
>

> > Armchair detective, jailhouse lawyer.
>
> >
>
> > Someone who is not formally of the profession, and whose office is in
>
> > whatsoever place. An amateur who practices surgery under the shade of a
>
> > tree.
>
>
>
> But, like Jerry, I suspect a phrase-out-of-time (although I won't
>
> provide cites as good like his). And like Jerry, I've associated it
>
> with self-trained and often do-it-yourself mechanics; there's a show
>
> somewhere on cable called "Shadetree Mechanic", and my impression from
>
> seeing it during channel surfing is that it's audience is
>
> do-it-yourselfers.
>
>
>
> "Armchair detective" would be another anachronism if it appeared in
>
> this book, but "jailhouse lawyer" goes back at least as for as
>
> Hollywood Westerns.

Thank you, gentlemen.
--
Marius Hancu

[Marius Hancu]

On Sunday, November 24, 2013 7:21:47 PM UTC-5, Tony Cooper wrote:

> >
>
> >~~~
>
> >[Boy journeying across Texas, then in Mexico, in an irregular military
>
> >company. He switches to a 2nd outfit. Brown is one of the mercenaries
>
> >and he has an arrow in him.]
>
> >
>
> >The kid drew his knife and cut away the bloody point deftly and handed
>
> >it up. Brown held it to the firelight and smiled. The point was of
>
> >hammered copper and it was cocked in its blood-soaked bindings on the
>
> >shaft but it had held.
>
> >
>
> >Stout lad, ye'll make a shadetree sawbones yet. Now draw her.
>
> >
>
> >Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
>
> >~~~
>
> >
>
> >"a shadetree sawbones": a surgeon, but "shadetree"?
>
>
>
> That's a common term that is still used in the US. A "shadetree
>
> (term) is someone who does a particular job, but is not a professional
>
> and doesn't have a store or office in which he does it.
>
>
>
> The most common use is "shadetree mechanic". That's a guy who you pay
>
> to fix your car but doesn't have a shop. He'll do the repairs in his
>
> driveway, his garage, or out in his yard under a shadetree.

Thanks.
--
Marius Hancu

[Whiskers]

OED finds "shade tree" in a quote dated 1806 and "shade-trees" in 1885.
It's first quote for "sawbones" is Dickens in 1837. It can't find them
combined. Perhaps someone will pass on the information?

I can see a theme uniting "hedge witch" "soapbox orator" "barrack
lawyer" with "shadetree sawbones" - but note that "tree surgeon" is in a
different class.

Fancy terms might be "self-taught" or "amateur" or "autodidact" or
"improvisational" instead of "shadetree". In BrE, "cowboy" is used to
signify one who is untrained or incompetent or unofficial.

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Snidely]

Whiskers used his keyboard to write :

> Fancy terms might be "self-taught" or "amateur" or "autodidact" or
> "improvisational" instead of "shadetree". In BrE, "cowboy" is used to
> signify one who is untrained or incompetent or unofficial.

Not so much here; rather it, is used for one who is kind of wild and
uncontrolled; I think there's a large dollop of "shoots from the hip"
as well. There's also a dose of "improvises in an unconventional way".

The first example off the top of my head is Maverick [1] from Top Gun,
or Charlie Sheen's character from the parody thereof ("Hot Shots"). I
think there have also been famous police characters who have been
castigated as "cowboys" by the more conventional members of the force.

I also recall some Wall Street traders (real people, not fiction)
characterized as "cowboys" by the news industry.

/dps


--
The presence of this syntax results from the fact that SQLite is really
a Tcl extension that has escaped into the wild.
<http://www.sqlite.org/lang_expr.html>

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Sat, 30 Nov 2013 20:04:46 +0000, Whiskers <catwh...@operamail.com>
wrote:

>In BrE, "cowboy" is used to
>signify one who is untrained or incompetent or unofficial.

This definition is closer to how I understand the term in BrE:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cowboy

British informal a dishonest or careless person in business,
especially an unqualified one:

[as modifier]: "cowboy coach firms are alleged to have flouted
safety rules"

There is a series currently running on UK TV titled _Cowboy Builders_:
http://www.channel5.com/shows/cowboy-builders

Up and down the country, cowboy builders are causing devastation and
dismay. These reckless workmen are always bad news, leaving behind
them piles of rubble, financial angst and heartache - and it's up to
our team to fix up ruined homes and drive the bad builders out of
town.



--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)