split-rail

Question

Hi,I'm reading "A Sand County Almanac", written by Aldo Leopold (AmE, 1950s). I have some problems with the following sentences, where "split-rail" is being used. Before posting here I looked for [url=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=split-rail&r=66]"split-rail"[/url], of course, and I've learnt it's a [url=]kind of fence[/url]. However, I still don't get what it means in these sentences. It seems that split-rail and man-earth experiences have zero or plus  values, but that ethical experiences may have minus values as well ...  The pioneer period gave birth to two ideas that are the essence of  split-rail value in outdoor sports. One is the 'go-light' idea, the  other the 'one-bullet-one-buck idea'. The net trend, however,is clearly toward more and more mechanization, with a corresponding shrinkage in cultural values, especially split-rail values and ethical restraints. Thank you in advance!

Marius Hancu · Accepted Answer

http://tinyurl.com/2js3rz

Khoff · Answer

Marius, your link explains split-rail fences.  The original poster already knew about split-rail fences, and that doesn't help explain the use of  "split-rail values" in  the quote from "Sand County Almanac."   I have no idea what the author meant -- when I googled "split-rail values," I was referred to this thread! -- but I don't think further explanation of split-rail fences helps.

Feebs11 · Answer

I suppose it could be a colourful metaphor for rural values.

Tanit · Answer

Khoff ... doesn't help explain the use of "split-rail values" in the quote from "Sand County Almanac."

Thank you, Khoff, that's exactly my problem!

Feebs11I suppose it could be a colourful metaphor for rural values.

Thank you too, Feebs. I guess it might be.
I'll go on reading ... maybe at the very last page I'll find a definition

or maybe somebody will add their thoughts here

BarbaraPA · Answer

Usually, I think a post that says "I don't know" isn't very helpful - well, I still think it's not helpful - but it should serve to comfort you that it's not due to a lack of English skills that you're confused! I have NO idea what that means.

Clive · Answer

Hi guys,

After looking at the context, I'll offer a wild guess. Do you think that 'split-rail' may be an intentional or unintentional mis-spelling / distortion of the word 'spiritual'?

Best wishes, Clive

Khoff · Answer

Well, this is weird. The whole passage sees so obscure to me, I thought I'd find it in the book and see if it made nay more sense in a broader context. I went to Amazon to "search inside" Sand County Almanac. It did not find any instances of the phrase "split-rail." I searched for many other phrases in the quote posted here, and could not find the passage that Tanit quoted. Mysteriouser and mysteriouser. (No, "mysteriouser" is not really a word.)

Clive, if you think "split-rail" might be a mangling of "spiritual", what do you make of "man-earth experiences"? (Maybe "man-eating pier rats"?)

(I don't mean to make fun of your idea -- I suppose it's possible that the author used "split-rail" as some metaphor for "spiritual," but it still doesn't make much sense.)

Khoff · Answer

Okay, here we go. I went back to Amazon and searched inside a different edition of the book. A couple of pages before the passage quoted, the author says "First there is value in any experience that reminds us of our distinctive national origins and evolution . . . for lack of any other short name, I shall call this, in our case, the "split-rail value."

So, it's really just a specialized us of the term that the author made up, to refer to reminders of American social history. He's just using "split-rail" (like the fences) as a symbol of American history and culture. (Sorry, Clive, nothing spiritual about it!)

Marius Hancu · Answer

A search with "split-rail values" at Yahoo gives these:

---------
Aldo Leopold called those things that "remind us of our distinctive
national origins and evolution, i.e., that stimulates awareness of
history, split-rail values." He penned those thoughts in his "Wildlife
in American Culture," essay that appeared in A Sand County Almanac. In
this thought-provoking work, Leopold noted "there is value in any
experience that reminds us of our dependency on the
soil--plant-animal-man food chain," and in "any experience that
exercises those ethical restraints collectively called sportsmanship."

http://www.tonydean.com/issues.html?sectionid=643

---------

Deer hunting is one of those bedrock Wisconsin traditions, built upon
what naturalist Aldo Leopold called "split rail" values, a custom with
echoes of our pioneer past. The annual gun deer hunt, with its tall
tales, cooked-way-too-long stew and carcasses hanging from trees is an
enduring part of our culture.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=531976&format=print
-----------

Origin:
Perhaps - values considered during talks at the end of the day, when villagers sit on a split-rail/fence.

Tanit · Answer

Great! Without your help, it would have been an impossible "task" for me!

Thank you all!

split-rail

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