ljdickey@watmath.UUCP (Lee Dickey) (07/12/83)
I always thought those holey strips of paper were
were called SELVAGE, because that what I called
those little pieces of paper that I tore from around a page
of stamps. (Remember when stamps were cheap enough
that you could buy a whole sheet at one time?)
I looked this word up in my Concise OED, and they list
only the meaning "Edge of cloth so woven that it cannot
unravel..." and something about "edge-plate of lock..."
but they do not mention the edge of a sheet of stamps.
I found the stamp connection in Websters third new
international. Does this mean that the British do not
use this word selvage for that stuff?
Any stamp collectors know this word?
Any (British) stamp collectors know?
--
Lee Dickey
University of Waterloo
ljdickey@watmath.UUCP
1 - 519 - 884-1211