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A young penniless artist tried to drown herself, but it rescued by a nice young man. "Then he raised his hat," went on Cecilia, "and said: 'Very well. But I'll find you, anyhow. I'm going to claim my rights of salvage.' Then he gave money to the cab-driver and told him to take me where I wanted to go, and walked away. What is 'salvage,' Hetty?"
"The edge of a piece of goods that ain't hemmed," said the shop-girl. "You must have looked pretty well frazzled out to the little hero boy."
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My grandmother was a seamstress in a sewing factory for years upon years, and I often heard her refer to the 'salvages' or pieces of fabric that weren't quite big enough for a job, so the seamstresses could take the salvages home. Grandma had a huge bin of salvages that we girls (cousins and playmates) could use to drape our dolls in in great elegance, or so we thought. I hadn't thought of this word (so-applied to sewing) in quite a while, wwh. Thanks for the memories.
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Dear WW: Der Quibblemeister says of troy would tell you the bit of cloth is more properly spelled "selvage".
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Ah! Oh, then, thank you for both the memories and for correcting the spelling of my memories, wwh!
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the bit of cloth is more properly spelled "selvage".
I'm not so sure. Selvage is the proper word for what Hetty called 'salvage.' I could easy see 'salvage' used for the bits of cloth.
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I understand what you're saying, Faldage, and I really cannot remember what Grandma called them: salvages or selvages. However, I did look up the definition and there is the specific one for parts of fabric cast off after cutting and selvage is the word specified in that context. Whatever Grandma might have called them--incorrect or not--technically I played with selvages.
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I thought selvage was either the finished edge of a piece of cloth, or the sewing of a cut edge of cloth to keep it from unraveling, whereas salvage is something "saved" from being disposed of. I'm sure of troy can enlighten.
Has anybody heard the asterisks lined up on the left edge of a comment in C, C++, or Java programs called selvage? I did, but think it was idiosyncratic to the program I heard utter it.
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Well, here's AHD:
also sel·vedge NOUN: 1a. The edge of a fabric that is woven so that it will not fray or ravel. b. An ornamental fringe at either end of an Oriental rug. 2. The edge plate of a lock that has a slot for a bolt.
...so at this point I am quite flummoxed. I do like that 'edge plate' definition!
Oh, well. I suppose my grandmother must have been referring to 'salvages' based on this definition, also from AHD:
3. Something saved from destruction or waste and put to further use.
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Webster's 1913 Dictionary Definition: \Sel"vage\, Selvedge \Sel"vedge\, n. [Self + edge, i. e., its own proper edge; cf. OD. selfegge.] 1. The edge of cloth which is woven in such a manner as to prevent raveling.
2. The edge plate of a lock, through which the bolt passes. --Knight.
3. (Mining.) A layer of clay or decomposed rock along the wall of a vein. See {Gouge}, n., 4. --Raymond.
Computing Dictionary Definition: chad (egad! chad really gets around)
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Meanwhile, lets get back to the rights of salvage 'Very well. But I'll find you, anyhow. I'm going to claim my rights of salvage.'
maybe Faldage (or some other sea going man--Bobyoung--i suspect) would know the detail.
when a ship is in distress, and other ship come to their aid, (or if a ship has sunk outside of territorial waters) those that come to assistance have rights of salvage.
after they help the sailors/passengers out of the sea, any of the goods they collect can be kept (in lieu of payment)--even if they collect an excessive amount (what is the value of a human life? how can any one say, "you have gotten too rich rescuing the sailors")
if a ship hasn't quite sunk, (and does't seem like it will sink quickly), the captain will refuse assistance, and wait for a ship from his own company (so that the 'salvage rights ' won't be 'lost to competitors'.._
there are many detail (in naval law)of who get what, if several ships come to aid, the first ship --i think, always gets 'first dibs' (a larger share)
the gentleman, having fished the young woman out of the water, is claiming 'rights of salvage'--that might mean he is asking for a kiss, or the right to keep her company, or ...what ever the he could get!
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