In MMD 980623  Bryan S. Cather wrote:

> "Jacque Legg" -- Robbie, apparently you don't have a dog !
>
> At piano tuning & repair school, any dubious technique was casually
> referred to as being a "Jack-leg" repair, referring to the act
> frequently performed by male dogs with weak bladders ... ;)
>
> Bryan S. Cather
>
> [ :))  Very good, Bryan!   A friend found in an old, old dictionary:
> [
> [ jackleg - a blackleg (U.S. slang)
> [ blackleg -
> [  1. symptomatic anthrax (a disease of cattle)
> [  2. a swindler, esp. a dishonest gambler [ but not a piano tech ;-)
> [  3. a strike breaker -- so called in opprobrium
> [
> [ Any others?  It sounds British ...  -- Robbie
>

The Oxford Dictionary lists Jackleg by reference to Jockteleg which
is of Scottish origin and refers to a large clasp knife (a blade that
folds into the handle).  Several literary references are made, all
about some kind of knife.

Other forms in Scot. and Eng. include: Jock the leg, jocteleg,
jactaleg, jacklag, joktaleg, joctaleg, jack-o-lag, jackylegs, jockylegs
and several other variations.

Now, the question is:  "What does a folding knife have to do with a dog
with a weak bladder and, more importantly, with mechanical music?"
(Psst...This is a rhetorical question).

Regards,

Bill Wineburgh


 [ Editor's note:
 [
 [ The discussion of 'jackleg' is pure rhetoric -- I love words!  :-)
 [ This is a marvelously descriptive word, apparently related to the
 [ British slang 'blackleg'.  Here is the explanation given in the big
 [ modern dictionary at my local library.  Notice that this _American_
 [ usage is pretty close to the way Bryan Cather used the word.
 [
 [ From Webster's Third New International Dictionary,
 [ (C)1961 Merriam-Webster Co.:
 [
 [   jackleg (adjective) -- (jack+leg, as in _blackleg_ "sharper")
 [
 [   1(a): characterized by lack of skill or training : amateur
 [   <"A fair jackleg carpenter." - Stanley Walker>
 [
 [   1(b): characterized by unscrupulousness, dishonesty, or
 [   lack of professional standards  <"Two jackleg lawyers and
 [   a cigar-eating judge." - F. B. Gipson>
 [
 [   2: designed for use as a temporary expedient : makeshift
 [   <"rigged up a jackleg system of landing lights." - W. L. White>
 [
 [
 [ Now I'm curious what the big Oxford Dictionary of the English
 [ Language says about 'blackleg' !
 [
 [ You ask (rhetorically) what this has to do with mechanical music.
 [ Well, when you see a butchered music box or orchestrion, etc.,
 [ you can politely remark, implying admiration, "Ah, a fine example
 [ of jackleg repairs!"   ;)
 [
 [ But aside from my fondness for cute slang, we are just now
 [ encountering some confusing slang technical terms in MMD:
 [ the Dutch word 'doorloop', and the Greek word 'Gamma', both used
 [ as organ terms.
 [
 [ These words are the 'Jargon of the Trade' of organ technicians,
 [ and they have meanings which are dependent upon the context.  They
 [ are _important_ words, and they were/are used by the organ techs in
 [ everyday speech and also are likely to appear in technical books.
 [
 [ With the assistance of our MMD subscribers I hope that MMD can
 [ help to compile a glossary, in several languages, of the jargon of
 [ mechanical musical instruments.  Jan Kijlstra and I have talked of
 [ this.  We need it, if we want to communicate without confusion !
 [
 [ -- Robbie