Sunday, November 1, 2015

The Word -Scrimshander

It appeared that Kolt's luck had run out. As he approached the tents a figure stepped out of the shadows blocking his way with a scrimshaw knife. The pungent rotten fish aroma around him should have given him away much sooner, that stink hung around the Scrimshander guard constantly.
"Wheetcha deaun bucko?" He demanded wafting more rotten fish into Kolt's direction.
"Its Kolt, Offet." Kolt replied impatiently, eyes on the fires. Were they dimmer than before.
"Kolt? Aint new kolt pearson."
"I was the Horse. Let me through."
"Yew aint luken like a horse ta me."
"Because Yorvet changed me back. He is expecting me."
"Sheere he is..."


Scrimshander - a person who creates scrimshaw (carved or engraved articles made originally by American whalers usually from baleen or whale ivory)

Added Info -Scrimshaw is a distinctly North American folk art, but no one knows just where it started or how it got its name. Native peoples of Alaska and Canada have carved ivory for centuries, but when "scrimshaw" is used in modern English, it is most often associated with 18th- and 19th-century whalers of the ilk Herman Melville described as "examining by dim light divers specimens of SKRIMSHANDER" in Moby-Dick (1851). As you can see from Melville's example, "scrimshander" was originally a synonym of "scrimshaw" (back then, the artists were most likely called scrimshoners). "Scrimshaw" and "scrimshander" may have originated with the surname of a sailor who was particularly skilled at the art, but if such an individual did exist, he is unknown today.

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