THE COBBLER
T<- THE EDITOR Of THF, I'CISa. Sir, Can you or any of your readers fell me anything of the origin of the word "cobbler" as used by shearers? A cobbler is a bad sheep to shear, or more properly the bad sheep which a shearer leaves for the end of the run—the last which he catches before time is called. The analogy with the old saying about the cobbler and his last is very striking, though probably not noticed by one user of the word in 100. If this is the true origin the term seems to me one of the most apt, in the sheepman's vocabulary. I would like to know whether the word is of local origin and how long it has been in use.— Yours, etc., SHEEP FARMER. Kaikourn, December 21, 19,34. Un his "A Sheep Station Glossary," printed in "The Press" last year, Mr L G D. Acland had the following note:—"Cobbler: Shearers' slang. Worst sheep to shear in a pen. Two shearers usually catch one out of a pen and each takes the easiest sheep he can find and so downwards till only the hardest and roughest sheep is left." I
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Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21355, 24 December 1934, Page 11
Word Count
198THE COBBLER Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21355, 24 December 1934, Page 11
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