From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: ats@offog.org (Adam Sampson) Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2016 19:26:12 +0100 Subject: [TUHS] Slashes In-Reply-To: <20160708112534.B13184422B@lignose.oclsc.org> (Norman Wilson's message of "Fri, 8 Jul 2016 07:25:34 -0400 (EDT)") References: <20160708112534.B13184422B@lignose.oclsc.org> Message-ID: norman at oclsc.org (Norman Wilson) writes: > It's unclear exactly how far back it dates. The earliest OED citation > for `slash' as `A thin sloping line, thus /' is dated 1961; but the > cite is from Webster's 3rd. A bit of searching finds earlier American examples in the context of livestock brands. For example, from "Hot Irons: Heraldry of the Range", 1940: A crude sign at a dirt turnoff will have been "painted" with a hot iron, reading V-/ 8. You may or may not know that the V Bar Slash ranch house is eight miles down that trail [...] Or in State v. Craig, New Mexico, 1922: The calves were then placed in a corral at the Webber ranch, and several days later were branded by appellant with A slash brand and then turned into the open pasture. -- Adam Sampson