childhood rhymes

[Jerome Foster]

"Spaldeen" was the local pronuciation of Spalding, the manufacturer of the
little pink rubber balls which were
the "official" ball of my Brooklyn neighborhood in the 30's and maybe for
yeas before and after. In the same neighborhood police cars in those days
had "sireens."

j foster, los osos,ca




----- Original Message -----
From: "Sam Clements" <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2004 8:28 PM
Subject: Re: childhood rhymes


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> Subject:      Re: childhood rhymes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> From my reading, a "spaldeen" was a pink rubber? ball that was used to
play
> stickball, stoopball, Chinese handball, and boxball.  This in in NYC.
> SC
>
> >----- Original Message -----
> >Subject: Re: childhood rhymes
>
>
>
> >
> > Early '20's?! Wow! Even my mother, who's 93, was a girl in those days!
> > Well, the tennis balls were used, not new!;-) And, by the way, what the
> > hell is a "spaldeen'? I know this word only as a literary term. When I
> > first ran across it, way back when, I assumed that it was a term for a
> > baseball, derived from the "Spalding" brand name. However, further
> > reading over the years has persuaded me that it's either not a baseball
> > or is not only a baseball.
> > Do me some solid and tell me and explain it to me. I'd consider it a
> > real mitzve.
> >
> > -Wilson
>