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McCarthy: They had gravel enough

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Marius Hancu

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Nov 9, 2013, 7:03:54 PM11/9/13
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Hello:

~~~
[Boy journeying across Texas then Mexico, in an irregular military
company. American veterans badmouthing the Mexican army here.]

He told how they'd taken the city of Chihuahua, an army of irregulars
that fought in rags and underwear and how the cannonballs were solid
copper and came loping through the grass like runaway suns and even the
horses learned to sidestep or straddle them and how the dames of the
city rode up into the hills in buggies and picnicked and watched the
battle and how at night as they sat by the fires they could hear the
moans of the dying out on the plain and see by its lantern the deadcart
moving among them like a hearse from limbo.

They had gravel enough, said the veteran, but they didnt know how to
fight. They'd stick. You heard stories about how they found em chained
to the trailspades of their pieces, limber-teams and all, but if they
was I never seen it. We picked powder in the locks yonder. Blowed them
gates open. People in here looked like skinned rats. Whitest Mexicans
you'll ever see. Thowed theirselves down and commenced kissin our feet
and such.

Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
~~~

"They had gravel enough": ?

"They'd stick": ?

"they found em chained to the trailspades of their pieces": I guess
these are Mexican artillery pieces. Why would they be chained? Against
desertion?

"Thowed theirselves down": dialect for "Throwed themselves down"?

Thanks.
--
Marius Hancu

Horace LaBadie

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Nov 9, 2013, 7:31:43 PM11/9/13
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In article <l5mihc$slv$1...@speranza.aioe.org>,
Marius Hancu <marius...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello:
>
> ~~~
> [Boy journeying across Texas then Mexico, in an irregular military
> company. American veterans badmouthing the Mexican army here.]
>
> He told how they'd taken the city of Chihuahua, an army of irregulars
> that fought in rags and underwear and how the cannonballs were solid
> copper and came loping through the grass like runaway suns and even the
> horses learned to sidestep or straddle them and how the dames of the
> city rode up into the hills in buggies and picnicked and watched the
> battle and how at night as they sat by the fires they could hear the
> moans of the dying out on the plain and see by its lantern the deadcart
> moving among them like a hearse from limbo.
>
> They had gravel enough, said the veteran, but they didnt know how to
> fight. They'd stick. You heard stories about how they found em chained
> to the trailspades of their pieces, limber-teams and all, but if they
> was I never seen it. We picked powder in the locks yonder. Blowed them
> gates open. People in here looked like skinned rats. Whitest Mexicans
> you'll ever see. Thowed theirselves down and commenced kissin our feet
> and such.
>
> Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy
> ~~~
>
> "They had gravel enough": ?


Spirit.

He might have said that they had sand, if they were determined enough.

> "They'd stick": ?

Stick to their posts or their guns.


> "they found em chained to the trailspades of their pieces": I guess
> these are Mexican artillery pieces. Why would they be chained? Against
> desertion?

He'd heard that, but had never seen any evidence of it. His opinion was
that they had gravel, and would stick without being chained.


> "Thowed theirselves down": dialect for "Throwed themselves down"?
>
> Thanks.

Evidently.

Tony Cooper

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Nov 9, 2013, 7:55:51 PM11/9/13
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Gravel = courage.

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando FL

Rich Ulrich

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Nov 10, 2013, 12:23:24 AM11/10/13
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Clear enough. But if I have read it before, I never
before related it to the notion that "gravel" is
either a collective or euphemized version of
"having stones".

--
Rich Ulrich

Tony Cooper

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Nov 10, 2013, 1:36:16 AM11/10/13
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Small stones: grit.

CDB

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Nov 10, 2013, 7:30:45 AM11/10/13
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On 10/11/2013 12:23 AM, Rich Ulrich wrote:
> Tony Cooper <tonyco...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Marius Hancu <marius...@gmail.com> wrote:

[...]

>>> They had gravel enough, said the veteran, but they didnt know how
>>> to fight. They'd stick. You heard stories about how they found em
>>> chained to the trailspades of their pieces, limber-teams and
>>> all, but if they was I never seen it. We picked powder in the
>>> locks yonder. Blowed them gates open. People in here looked like
>>> skinned rats. Whitest Mexicans you'll ever see. Thowed
>>> theirselves down and commenced kissin our feet and such.

>>> Blood Meridian, by Cormac McCarthy ~~~

>>> "They had gravel enough": ?

>>> "They'd stick": ?

>> Gravel = courage.

> Clear enough. But if I have read it before, I never before related
> it to the notion that "gravel" is either a collective or euphemized
> version of "having stones".

Think "grit".


Rich Ulrich

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Nov 10, 2013, 5:09:22 PM11/10/13
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On Sun, 10 Nov 2013 01:36:16 -0500, Tony Cooper
Okay. This use does seem to be stick-to-itiveness, which
seems like grit. What does the metaphor for grit refer to?

I think of grit as, say, metal filings or other particles
that will be hard to brush away. Is that where
"sticking" comes from?

As physical stuff, gravel seems closer to stones than to grit.

I don't say "having stones" or "having big brass ones" or
"having balls" or "having "cajones" or "having grit."

Has it been decades since I ran across any reference
to grit? Ngram viewer shows "got grit" was highest from
1885 to 1945, but it does have a recent resurgence.

--
Rich Ulrich

Horace LaBadie

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Nov 10, 2013, 5:36:07 PM11/10/13
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In article <iuvv799a0kvl80gjm...@4ax.com>,
Rich Ulrich <rich....@comcast.net> wrote:

> >Small stones: grit.
>
> Okay. This use does seem to be stick-to-itiveness, which
> seems like grit. What does the metaphor for grit refer to?
>
> I think of grit as, say, metal filings or other particles
> that will be hard to brush away. Is that where
> "sticking" comes from?

True Grit is the name of a story in The Saturday Evening Post that was
later adapted for a movie starring John Wayne, which was later
re-adapted for a movie starring Jeff Bridges. Grit is invasive and hard
to remove.

Grit is like sand, but much finer. It causes friction. Thus, it is a
term describing the fineness or coarseness of sandpaper. 60 Grit is
coarse, and 300 grit is fine. Even finer examples of metallic oxide
papers (800, 2000, 3000, etc.) are used to polish metal surfaces.

Leslie Danks

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Nov 10, 2013, 5:41:20 PM11/10/13
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"Tru Grit"

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN-j4GDqjv4>

--
Les (BrE)

Tony Cooper

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Nov 10, 2013, 5:59:59 PM11/10/13
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On Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:09:22 -0500, Rich Ulrich
Charles Portis, "True Grit", 1968

John Wayne, Kim Darby, "True Grit", 1969.

Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, "True Grit", 2010.

Mike L

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Nov 10, 2013, 6:22:08 PM11/10/13
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The singer Lesley Garrett was going through a very bad patch of
illness, and finding it hard to keep herself going - I paraphrase or
parody or something. Her mother said "What you need, love, is some of
your Yorkshire grit", and posted her some in an envelope. (You have to
love Yorkies: they'll still treat you as a soft-headed alien, mind.)

--
Mike.

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Nov 10, 2013, 6:25:45 PM11/10/13
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On Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:09:22 -0500, Rich Ulrich
<rich....@comcast.net> wrote:

>What does the metaphor for grit refer to?

Good question.

This may not help -

OED:
grit, n,

5. colloq.
a. orig. U.S. slang. Firmness or solidity of character; indomitable
spirit or pluck; stamina. to be clear grit , hard (etc.) grit :
to have genuine spirit or pluck. to be the grit : to be the
‘right sort’, the genuine ‘article’.

1825 J. Neal Brother Jonathan III. 386 Proper fellow he was too;
'cute enough, I tell you——sharp as a razor——clear grit.
1843 T. C. Haliburton Attaché II. i. 13 If he hadn't a had the
clear grit in him, and showed his teeth and claws.
....

gritty, adj,

3. U.S. colloq. Having firmness of character or courage; full of
determination or pluck.

1843 J. S. Robb Streaks of Squatter Life 106 Thur never was a
grittyer crowd congregated before on that stream.
18.. J. R. Lowell Interview M. Standish in Poems (1890) I. 222
My neighbor Buckingham Hath somewhat in him gritty, Some
Pilgrim-stuff that hates all sham.
1891 Cent. Mag. Nov. 65 They were captured by a band of gritty
frontiersmen under Sheriff Boswell.


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

Leslie Danks

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Nov 10, 2013, 6:34:38 PM11/10/13
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Maybe this is where the grit came from:

<http://www.yorkshiregrit.com/hunters.html>

--
Les (BrE)

Peter T. Daniels

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Nov 10, 2013, 11:53:15 PM11/10/13
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On Sunday, November 10, 2013 5:09:22 PM UTC-5, Rich Ulrich wrote:

> Okay. This use does seem to be stick-to-itiveness, which
> seems like grit. What does the metaphor for grit refer to?
>
> I think of grit as, say, metal filings or other particles
> that will be hard to brush away. Is that where
> "sticking" comes from?
>
> As physical stuff, gravel seems closer to stones than to grit.
>
> I don't say "having stones" or "having big brass ones" or
> "having balls" or "having "cajones" or "having grit."
>
> Has it been decades since I ran across any reference
> to grit? Ngram viewer shows "got grit" was highest from
> 1885 to 1945, but it does have a recent resurgence.

When were *True Grit* and *True Grit* released?

Jerry Friedman

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Nov 11, 2013, 10:32:58 AM11/11/13
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On 11/10/13 4:25 PM, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
> On Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:09:22 -0500, Rich Ulrich
> <rich....@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> What does the metaphor for grit refer to?
>
> Good question.
>
> This may not help -
>
> OED:
> grit, n,
>
> 5. colloq.
> a. orig. U.S. slang. Firmness or solidity of character;
...

The OED for "sand", with a similar meaning, mentions "sand in one's
craw", which is in the two earliest citations.

"1867 G. W. Harris Sut Lovingood 102, I tell yu he hes lots ove san'
in his gizzard; he is the best pluck I ever seed.

"1872 Newton Kansan 5 Dec. 3/3 We hope to see Mr. Pettibone with
sufficient ‘sand in his craw’ for this new position [sc. police judge]."

That may not help either.

The OED doesn't have this sense of "gravel".

--
Jerry Friedman

Peter T. Daniels

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Nov 11, 2013, 11:54:08 AM11/11/13
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On Monday, November 11, 2013 10:32:58 AM UTC-5, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> On 11/10/13 4:25 PM, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
> > On Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:09:22 -0500, Rich Ulrich
> > <rich....@comcast.net> wrote:

> >> What does the metaphor for grit refer to?
>
> > Good question.
> > This may not help -
>
> > OED:
> > grit, n,
> > 5. colloq.
> > a. orig. U.S. slang. Firmness or solidity of character;
>
> The OED for "sand", with a similar meaning, mentions "sand in one's
> craw", which is in the two earliest citations.
>
> "1867 G. W. Harris Sut Lovingood 102, I tell yu he hes lots ove san'
> in his gizzard; he is the best pluck I ever seed.
>
> "1872 Newton Kansan 5 Dec. 3/3 We hope to see Mr. Pettibone with
> sufficient ‘sand in his craw’ for this new position [sc. police judge]."
> That may not help either.

When I came across "sand in his/my craw" in *Tom Sawyer* (1876), and
"craw" wasn't in the small student dictionary probably left over from
my father's grade school days, I asked my mother what it meant and she
wouldn't tell me and asked where I had seen it, which led me to think
it was something naughty.

Rich Ulrich

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Nov 11, 2013, 3:15:03 PM11/11/13
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I suppose that the bird without grit or sand in its craw,
if it is that sort of bird, is going to be sickly. I still don't
grok where the strong positive comes from.

About 6 hours after posting that I hardly ever saw the
word these days, it showed up in the Wen Spencer
science fiction that I was re-reading.

--
Rich Ulric
h

Mike L

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Nov 11, 2013, 3:28:03 PM11/11/13
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On Mon, 11 Nov 2013 00:34:38 +0100, Leslie Danks <leslie...@aon.at>
wrote:

>Mike L wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 10 Nov 2013 07:30:45 -0500, CDB <belle...@gmail.com> wrote:
[...]
>>>
>>>Think "grit".
>>>
>> The singer Lesley Garrett was going through a very bad patch of
>> illness, and finding it hard to keep herself going - I paraphrase or
>> parody or something. Her mother said "What you need, love, is some of
>> your Yorkshire grit", and posted her some in an envelope. (You have to
>> love Yorkies: they'll still treat you as a soft-headed alien, mind.)
>
>Maybe this is where the grit came from:
>
><http://www.yorkshiregrit.com/hunters.html>

Presumably. I suppose millstone grit must have helped Sheffield along.
(But would you just look at that loony human fly?)

--
Mike.

Leslie Danks

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Nov 11, 2013, 3:31:56 PM11/11/13
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I used to do stuff like that WIWAL, but never anything that extreme. Perhaps
they've put the photo on its side.

--
Les (BrE)

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Nov 11, 2013, 5:33:54 PM11/11/13
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Is he gritting his teeth?

Mike L

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Nov 11, 2013, 5:52:24 PM11/11/13
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On Mon, 11 Nov 2013 21:31:56 +0100, Leslie Danks <leslie...@aon.at>
wrote:

>Mike L wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 11 Nov 2013 00:34:38 +0100, Leslie Danks <leslie...@aon.at>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>Mike L wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Sun, 10 Nov 2013 07:30:45 -0500, CDB <belle...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> [...]
>>>>>
>>>>>Think "grit".
>>>>>
>>>> The singer Lesley Garrett was going through a very bad patch of
>>>> illness, and finding it hard to keep herself going - I paraphrase or
>>>> parody or something. Her mother said "What you need, love, is some of
>>>> your Yorkshire grit", and posted her some in an envelope. (You have to
>>>> love Yorkies: they'll still treat you as a soft-headed alien, mind.)
>>>
>>>Maybe this is where the grit came from:
>>>
>>><http://www.yorkshiregrit.com/hunters.html>
>>
>> Presumably. I suppose millstone grit must have helped Sheffield along.
>> (But would you just look at that loony human fly?)
>
>I used to do stuff like that WIWAL, but never anything that extreme.

I'm duly impressed: I like a hill walk, but climbing scares the tar
out of me.

> Perhaps
>they've put the photo on its side.

Gad, you're right! All those fake trees and the cardboard trig point
had me completely fooled. Clever buggers.

--
Mike.

Dr Nick

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Nov 12, 2013, 2:32:37 AM11/12/13
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I think I've always sort of subconsciously linked "having grit" with
being able to cope when things get down to the nitty gritty. Yes, I
know I'm probably making the problem worse!

Leslie Danks

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Nov 12, 2013, 3:31:33 AM11/12/13
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A nitty gritty is the last thing you want.

--
Les (BrE)

Horace LaBadie

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Nov 12, 2013, 8:22:06 AM11/12/13
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In article <l5sp15$i71$2...@dont-email.me>,
A Nitty Gritty Dirt Band isn't all that bad.

Mark Brader

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Nov 15, 2013, 11:58:28 AM11/15/13
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Horace LaBadie:
> Grit is like sand, but much finer. It causes friction. Thus, it is a
> term describing the fineness or coarseness of sandpaper. 60 Grit is
> coarse, and 300 grit is fine.

I think of grit as "like sand, but the particles are more jagged". But
that might be just me.

As I mentioned here in 2000, our federal and provincial Liberals have
been called Grits for over 160 years, since the days when they were
still the Reform Party<*> and not yet the Liberals. The phrase was
"All sand and no dirt, clear grit all the way through", clearly
equating "grit" and "sand".

<*> Not to be confused with the much later Reform Party that is now
called the Conservatives.
--
Mark Brader | "In the USA politicians run for office. In Britain they
Toronto | stand for office. Of course... once elected... [they]
m...@vex.net | neither run nor stand, they lie." --John Cletheroe

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Marius Hancu

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Nov 17, 2013, 8:38:00 AM11/17/13
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Thanks, everyone.
--
Marius Hancu

Marius Hancu

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Nov 17, 2013, 8:39:54 AM11/17/13
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On Sunday, November 10, 2013 6:25:45 PM UTC-5, PeterWD wrote:
Great examples.

Thanks.
--
Marius Hancu
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