square from Delaware (1939)

[Joel S. Berson]

I (mis?) pronounce Spokane as "cane", and would (if pressed) rhyme it
with lane.

Joel

>Was "Spokane", from the evidence here and below, formerly pronounced
>to rhyme with "lane"?  Or is this just an outlander pronunciation, as
>pronouncing "Arkansas" to rhyme with "Kansas"?  Waller's "strictly
>from Dixie" works pretty well as a half-rhyme, but for me "a lane
>from Spokane" doesn't come close.  "A trash can from Spokane" maybe.
>
>LH
>
>>/Spain", app.
>>in the "sucker" sense.)  _The New Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary_
>>(1944) defines "lane" more generally as "a male, usually a
>>nonprofessional."
>>
>>Also from Burley's _Original Handbook of Harlem Jive_ is this passage
>>(reprinted in _Mother Wit from the Laughing Barrel_):
>>
>>----
>>The tendency toward rhyming which has been noted before, is to be
>>found more  especially among members of the Negro theatrical and
>>musical fraternities. These people travel more extensively than the
>>average Harlemites and, since they are engaged, more or less, in work
>>that has to do with the lyrical and poetic, such expressions as "like
>>the bear, I ain't nowhere"; "like the bear's brother, Freddie, Jack I
>>ain't ready"; "like the chicken, I ain't stickin'," (broke); "Home
>>from Rome" (Georgia); "Lane from Spokane," (Lane is the same as home);
>>and innumerable others are widely used.
>>----
>>
>>So it looks like "home" in "home from Rome" had a pejorative sense (an
>>unsophisticated person from Rome, Georgia), to match "lane (from
>>Spokane)" and "square (from Delaware)". (In his "Square from Delaware"
>>song, Fats Waller adds another rhyming toponymic pejorative: "strictly
>>from Dixie".)
>>
>>
>>--Ben Zimmer
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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