tree lawns; was Re: Off and on

[Dan Goodman]

On 09/22/2011 10:59 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: tree lawns; was Re: Off and on
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Ohio, with its unique "devil's strip," went for Obama.
>
> Alert the Tea Party.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Sep 22, 2011 at 10:01 AM, Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: tree lawns; was Re: Off and on
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> On Sep 22, 2011, at 9:54 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>
>>> At 9/22/2011 01:33 AM, Paul Johnston wrote:
>>>> ... As I say, in New Jersey, there was no term, though my
>>>> neighborhood had sidewalks, and so, there was a tree lawn/parkway/berm.
>>>
>>> Nor do I, grown in NYC and living in New England, have a term.
>>
>> Right; I have a similar background and was disconcerted to see that Bert
>> Vaux's otherwise very useful survey page doesn't have an entry for *my*
>> favored term, i.e. "the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb".
>>   I will concede that "tree lawn", "berm", et al. are a bit more concise.
>>
>> LH, recalling an abortive attempt to popularize the label "dog-turd strip"
>> in the old pre-pooper-scooper era

In the Twin Cities area, the term is "boulevard."  My amateur guess:
originally "boulevard strip."

To the best of my knowledge, New York City has no term.

Berm:  For parts of my childhood, I lived on the Berme Road in Ulster
County, NY.  It ran near the route of the Delaware and Hudson Canal.

--
Dan Goodman dsgood at iphouse.com
Whatever you wish for me, may you have twice as much.

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