AWADmail Issue 177
September 10, 2005
A Compendium of Feedback on the Words in A.Word.A.Day
and Other Interesting Tidbits about Words and Languages
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From: David Else (mailATdavidelse.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--Madison Avenue
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/madison_avenue.html
>From son of Maud, to American president, to Madison Ave - the derivation
string doesn't stop there.
Madison Square Gardens gave its name to the madison - a style of indoor
cycle race once held there - which in turn was picked up by Madison - now
a brand of cycle clothing.
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From: Scott Kruize (scottkATpacificrimcorp.com)
Subject: Madison Avenue
Throughout the constant bombardment with Madison Avenue balogna,
the thing that's sustained me is MAD Magazine's satires.
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From: Hugh Rawson and Margaret Miner (hugh.rawsonATsnet.net)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--tenderloin
Some details on "tenderloin:: The New York City policeman who gave the
midtown Manhattan district (the 29th precinct) its nickname was Alexander S.
"Clubber" Williams (1839-1917). Previously a patrolman in Hell's Kitchen on
the West Side, then a captain in the Gas House district on the East Side,
Williams is said to have remarked to a friend upon learning of his transfer
to midtown, where the opportunities for graft were much richer, "I've had
nothing but chuck steak for a long time, and now I'm going to get a little
bit of tenderloin." Williams rose to inspector and resigned (under fire) a
wealthy man, with a yacht and estate in Connecticut, despite his
relatively meager salary over the years. He earned his own nickname,
"Clubber", through his usual method of enforcing the law, as indicated by
another statement attributed to him: "There is more law at the end of a
policeman's nightstick than in a decision of the Supreme Court." See Herbert
Asbury's The Gangs of New York and our own Oxford Dictionary of American
Quotations, scheduled for publication toward the end of this year.
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From: Mark Engel (markengelATaol.com)
Subject: tenderloin
I was interested to learn that the original Tenderloin is in New York, being
more familiar with (driving warily through) the one in San Francisco. But I
had always thought that the name of the district was a pun on an occupational
hazard of the many streetwalkers who seem to provide the basis of the area's
economy. Possibly both your etymology and mine contributed to the term's
currency.
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From: Michael Klossner (mklossnerATasl.lib.ar.us)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--Tin Pan Alley
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/tin_pan_alley.html
I remember somewhere hearing a part of a city with several hospitals
referred to jokingly as bedpan alley.
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From: John Turnbull (globalgameATmindspring.com)
Subject: feedback: Tin Pan Alley
Bob Dylan's spoken introduction to "Bob Dylan's Blues" on the album "The
Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" (1963): "Unlike most of the songs nowadays being
written uptown in Tin Pan Alley--that's where most of the folk songs come
from nowadays. This, this is a song . . . this wasn't written up there. This
is written somewhere down in the United States." Cue harmonica . . .
Nat Hentoff's liner notes to the album say the song was composed
spontaneously, forming part of Dylan's reaction against the folk-music
establishment. "Tin Pan Alley" seems to have a negative association here of
churning out pre-fabricated popular songs rather than music reflecting real
life.
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From: Creede Lambard (creedeATpenguinsinthenight.com)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--Bronx cheer
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/bronx_cheer.html
Comedian and social commentator George Carlin has a euphemism for the
Bronx cheer: "bilabial fricative".
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From: Charlie Ferrazzi (agroofATestherwellscollection.com)
Subject: Bronx Cheer
When my oldest Gran was small and exploring sounds this is one she became
quite proficient at. I'm afraid we did help it along by mimicking her.
Needless to say our faces were red when she chose to express herself in
public with this sound!
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From: Bert Forage (afo43573ATbigpond.net.au)
Subject: feedback: Bronx cheer
Co-incidence is a funny thing!
The day before the issue of AWAD containing the Bronx cheer, the expression
had turned up in one of the clues to a cryptic crossword in `THE AGE', a
Melbourne (Australia) daily newspaper. The clue as far as I recall, read
"Conserve a Bronx cheer with a fix", the answer being "raspberry jam".
More on the Bronx cheer can be found in Wikipedia, where it is described
as a `labiolingual trill'! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronx_cheer
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From: Martin Johnson (martinjohnsonATfastmail.fm)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--Bronx cheer
I'm sure you've covered rhyming slang, such as raspberry and apples, many
times and will do again.
One of my favourites, though, is a two-stager: " 'arris", which sounds as if
it should be something to do with Harris tweed, that splendid Scots fashion
item. But it's short for "Aristotle", which rhymes with "bottle", which is
short for "bottle and glass", which rhymes also.
Hence "I kicked 'im in the arris."
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From: Gino Robair (grobairATprimediabusines.com)
Subject: Rhyming slang
There is a similar language called Boontling (or Boont). It's a language that
sprang up in the Anderson Valley in Northern California around the turn of
the 20th century. It has some similarities to rhyming slang in its design, but
more personalized.
For example, the word for "pay phone" is Buckywalter: the first phone in town
belonged to Walter and it took a Buffalo nickel (Buckeye). The pay phone in
one of the towns still has a sign above the phone box saying Buckywalter.
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From: Susan Hague (suehagueATihug.co.nz)
Subject: Re: A.Word.A.Day--Wall Street
Refer: http://wordsmith.org/words/wall_street.html
It's probably just a coincidence but the slang term for an ATM machine in
New Zealand and many other countries is the "hole in the wall". Maybe the
nearest thing to Wall Street in a small town?
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From: Robert J. Skinner (memphisbobAThotmail.com)
Subject: Word a Day: Wall Street
Tokyo has the Ginza (Gold Street).
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The speaking in a perpetual hyperbole is comely in nothing but in love.
-Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman (1561-1626)
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