[Idiom] What does 'collect copy' mean?

[eeshu]

Here's a sentence from the essay I read last night -- 'Once upon a time, on a summer's day, two poets, having shut up shop, went out into the country to collect copy, for their stock of this commodity was exhausted.' I've looked through all my dictionaries and still can't find 'collect copy' in any of them? Is it a compound verb or verb + noun construction? What does it mean?

 

[Rover_KE]

Who wrote this essay? What's the context? Did they later succeed in 'collecting copy'? What did it turn out to be?

 

[eeshu]

This is an opening sentence of the fable 'The Poets and the Housewife' written by Martin Armstrong. The author didn't specify what it was.

 

[eeshu]

Here it is: https://slideplayer.com/slide/4026963/

I'm sorry, but I still do not understand what 'copy' referred to in the story. A painting? If so, why not 'collect copies'? Can you please explain?

 

[J&K Tutoring]

Look in your dictionary for definitions of copy as a noun. I think they were "collecting" (gathering/looking for) something to write about.

 

[eeshu]

Look in your dictionary for definitions of copy as a noun. I think they were "collecting" (gathering/looking for) something to write about.

Thank you for drawing my attention to 'writing'. I see why I didn't get it now. My eyes were bleary and my mind unfocused. I took them to be 'painters' and felt quite puzzled over what they were collecting.:roll:

 

[emsr2d2]

The words "two poets" should have been a clue that they weren't painters!

 

[jutfrank]

Could it mean 'coffee'? That's a valuable commodity.

 

[Rover_KE]

This is an opening sentence of the fable 'The Poets and the Housewife' written by Martin Armstrong. The author didn't specify what it was.

In future threads, please give this information in post #1 instead of making us ask you for it.

 

[Tdol]

Thank you for drawing my attention to 'writing'. I see why I didn't get it now. My eyes were bleary and my mind unfocused. I took them to be 'painters' and felt quite puzzled over what they were collecting.:roll:

If journalists get a topic to write about, they get copy. It sounds slightly odd to me for a poet to get copy, as it suggests a story to me, but the idea is the same- something to write about.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Here's a sentence from the essay I read last night -- 'Once upon a time, on a summer's day, two poets, having shut up shop, went out into the country to collect copy, for their stock of this commodity was exhausted.' I've looked through all my dictionaries and still can't find 'collect copy' in any of them? Is it a compound verb or verb + noun construction? What does it mean?

Written words are sometimes called copy.

Their stock (supply) of the commodity - copy - is exhausted. It's gone, used up. They've run out of words. They can't think of any more.

So they're going out into the country to gather ideas for their next poems - to collect copy. It's figurative. They're not literally collecting words. They're collecting ideas for words.

Look up collect and copy separately. It will make more sense that way.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Could it mean 'coffee'? That's a valuable commodity.

Their commodity is words.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

#
I think that's the best suggestion we have had so far.

Yup! I don't think you can read it any other way.

 

[jutfrank]

Could it mean 'coffee'? That's a valuable commodity.

Their commodity is words.

Yes, of course it's not 'coffee'. When I suggested that I hadn't seen the context, some of which I've posted below:


"But they dared not turn their faces to her, lest the water should run down their necks: so, revolving themselves all of a piece, they replied: “Renewed thanks, ma’am, but we are very well, for we are acquiring copy.” And they cowered under the deluge with great earnestness of purpose.

But the lodgekeeper’s wife did not understand the word copy, so that she was amazed beyond measure and the power of comment was taken from her.

...

And when those poets were returned home, the one found that he had lost a shirt and the other that he had gained a cold. Therefore the one went out and bought a new shirt at seven and six and dear at that, and the other got himself a shilling bottle of Ammoniated Quinine[8] which was tolerably cheap considering.

And the one wrote an ode called Midsummer Storm for which he obtained five guineas, so that (deducting fourpence for stamps and seven and six for the shirt) his net profit was four pounds seventeen and twopence.

But the other could only manage a one-guinea sonnet called Rain Among Leaves, so that (deducting fourpence for stamps and a shilling for the quinine) his net profit was nineteen and eightpence.

Thus the two acquired great store of copy (more, indeed, than they bargained for) and the sum of five pounds sixteen shillings and tenpence thrown in."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yes, of course it's not 'coffee'. When I suggested that I hadn't seen the context, some of which I've posted below . . . .

Yup. Still nothing about coffee. Now you know!