Barrow ditch.

[Sonja L Launspach]

On Mon, 9 Oct 2000, Mark Odegard wrote:

> I have recently become aware of the term 'barrow ditch'. It seems to be an
American regionalism, confined mostly to the South; I'm told that, in the
South, it's pronounced 'bar-ditch'. It refers to the ditch alongside a
highway. A web search conclusively demonstrates that this is in active usage.
>

I'd never heard the term until I moved to Idaho ( I used to live in South
Carolina). My students all know it. There are several variations
here--barrow pit, borrow pit, bar pit  as well as barrow/borrow ditch.
I'm not sure what the phonological distinction is between barrow and
borrow--since the survey I use is a written one. One of my students did
tell us that her dad told her that the dirt was borrowed for the
road--hence the name. A bit of folk etymology

Sonja Launspach



_______________________________________________________________________
Sonja Launspach
Assistant Professor Linguistics
Dept.of English & Philosophy
Idaho State University
Pocatello, ID 83209
208-282-2478
fax:208-282-4472
email: sllauns at isu.edu