Was looking over runaway servent ads from the 1750s at http://www.irelandoldnews.com/History/runaways2.htm. This one intriqued me...

March 28, 1751
The Pennsylvania Gazette


Run away the 17th of this inst. from the subscriber, living in
Pilesgrove township, Salem county, a servant man, named Roger
Noland, came from Ireland, of middle stature, speaks good
English: he served 4 years in this province before, then went
on the expeditions to Cape Breton and Canada; he is a likely
fellow, of a fresh complexion, has black hair, and is slim; he
is a drunken, impudent, forward fellow in company, and talks
much; Had on when he went away, a goof coat, between a dove
and ash colour, breeches of the same, the coat is trimmed with
3 holes in the flap, and 3 in the sleeve, a good holland
shirt, grey yarn stockings, neats leather shoes, a small
brimmhat, more than half worn, and a very old lightish
colourjacket. Whoever takes up and secures said servant in
any goal, so that his master may have him again, shall have
Fifty Shillings reward, and reasonable charges, paid by MOUNCE
KEEN.

I've never heard the term "goof" in describing a coat before, and a Google search didn't turn up anything.
Anyone know what it is?

Hey Deecop,
I could be wrong, which I have been known to be several times a day. But I believe what we have here is a Typo. The person typing the article hit the "f" when they should have hit the "d" which are right next to each other on the keyboard. I believe the Runaway, Roger Noland had on a "good" coat. That's my guess, and it's just a guess.

Mike, your explaination makes sense to me now that I've taken a look at my keyboard!
Thanks!

The other typo you might have had is that the font used in the 18th century had a small "s" that looked like an "f" when that letter appears in the middle of a word, to the untrained eye. (Don't ask me why they used a proper s at the end of words - one unconfirmed theory is that the type sets were sold with too few of the letter s, so they substitude the f)

So the fellow would have had on a "goos" coat, a bit obscure, and the d-s typo is a much better guess, BUT you will find lots of college kids doing data entry of 18th century records screw up the s for an f.

Saw an personal letter extract at the top of a page saying once..."Twas not a proper buffness". The next paragraph went on to another topic, and I thought the writer meant the color buff, or perhaps referred to a metal polishing problem..., then I checked the previous page... (Duh-oh) as spelling wasn't "set" back then, the context of the previous page showed the author had written business but spelled it "bussnes". The college intern just typed what they saw, not actually reading the document.

Just FYI

LD

LD et al,
I vote for "good" and a typo. I've been looking at lots of transcribed early documents, and there are frequent mistakes by the "data entry" people. The "f" and the "s" that looks like an "f" are actually a bit different upon close examination, at least in most printed texts. Handwriting is of course hard to tell. It seems to me that usually the first "s" in the word is the elongated one, and often any succeeding ones, except the last one, which is a regular "s".

Dick

i hope i did that image on here right. it shows the use of that old style font with the funny "f" in place of the "s".

Yes, it came through fine... And note the inconsistent use of the two letters. Also note that the "f" has a cross-line going all the way through and beyond the vertical line, while the "s" figure has a horizontal mark only on the left side of the vertical line. That's the difference, and you've got to look "fharp."

Dick

quote:

fharp

L O L

OK so now we can tell everybody to "stay fharp" and only Campfire folks will understand the inside joke!

LD

Well, it's a filly idea to prefume that anyone will fuffer major difficulties in underftanding fuch a fimple thing af that!

Dick

Let's not forget our rights to Life, Liberty, and the Purfuit of Happinefs.

It's not really a f, but a long s. Sometimes called a medial or desending s. Germans still use it for a double s, that looks like a capital B with a hernia.

The long s goes back to the Roman and Greek alphabets. They also had a short or terminal s. Terminal s also tells you where to use it.

There are a bunch of free fonts that have the long and short s. Roman Antique is a good one.

Once you get used to them, you can read old stuff no problemo.

OBTW, capital S is always a S, not a F.

Yes, Pichou's got it.
Note how inconsistently it is applied in common usage--not like a double-s at all. Sometimes an "f" followed by an "s", as in "mifsion", sometimes two "fs" in a row, sometimes they forget it entirely. But it's never the last letter in a word, as I chose to do in my last meffage. Stay fharp!

Dick

AAAAGH! The "s" is NOT an "f". The "f" has a cross bar, the "s" (when used in a spot other than at the beginning of a syllable, or end of a word, where the normal looking "s" is used) does not have a cross bar, or sometimes has a "half cross bar", only on the left side of the letter, not crossing through the central vertical part of the letter.

FD,
Please note my posting dated 18 Aug. regarding the way the letter is made. I just don't happen to have the correct old letter in my selection of fonts.

Dick

Sorry to be so imprecise, but my experience is that when you use terms such as medial s, terminal s, thorn, and etc you cause more confusion than clarification.

btw the name of the font, or a font that properly gives the correct character for the 18th century, is "Walden", if you can find it and download it.

LD

No problem, LD. I'll look for a good old font one of these days. I'm packing now. fhoot fharp, as Mike would fay.

Dick

Sorry Dick, my post was not directed at you specifically. It's just the whole "s that looks like an f" thing is one of my many peeves.