Woodcraft II

[poliphilo]

All done.

They've chopped the fallen tree into brushwood and firewood and pushed the stump upright in the hope that it might "coppice"- meaning put out new growth. I've not come across "coppice" used as a verb in quite that sense before- but I like it- and if it isn't standard English it should be.

Comments

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I know 'to coppice' as the thing you do to trees to make them produce a growth of straight, thin branches. But are your people using it to refer to what the trees themselves do?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

They are.

And they're the experts so they ought to know.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Self-coppicing trees! Who would have thought it. Like you, I always thought it was something people did to trees. Perhaps they think it sounds more technical than just saying, "Perhaps it'll sprout." :)

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Yes it is also a verb as it happens :o)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

But does it also mean something that trees do to themselves?

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Coppicing is the act of cutting back to encourage fine growth, so probably not.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I see a transitive usage, but not intransitive. Too early to go squinting at a compact OED. Doesn't really matter, as last I checked English was still a living language.

On a related note, I bought a billhook, last year. Shockingly useful bit of kit, that is.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You increase my suspicion that Matthew's use of the word is an innovation. No harm in that. In fact, I'm all for it!