Frisco

[Beverly Flanigan]

This elision of the preposition (or occasionally an article) is different
from clipping/abbreviating, but it interests me.  I've noticed that
something goes "over top of" something else here in southern Ohio, and that
many people "graduate high school."  My British grad student (London, age
24) says she and her friends "go down the pub."  How widespread are these
usages?


At 04:31 PM 12/2/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Having spent many of my summers there (when Wildwood was cool) - I have
>always gone "down the shore" while in Philly/S. Jersey (exit 2) or "down
>the Jersey Shore" when speaking to friends in NYC. And it really doesn't
>matter if its north or south, going "down the shore" from Philly to Cape
>May is about the same as going "down the shore" from Camden to Asbury Park.
>
>Katy Miller
>
>
>At 01:10 PM 12/2/99 -0800, you wrote:
> >Yep, Peter and Andrea have it right, as ever. When we first-yearers
> >arrived from afar in Palo Alto in 1960 we were told _never_ to refer to
> >The City as Frisco, a word that belongs on boxcars.
> >
> >I'll add to Peter's remarks, however, that I can recall, from the late
> >40s, someone in the Flelfia (Philadelphia) area--probably an Iggles
> >fan--saying something about going "down Jersey," meaning to Cape May, N.J.
> >
> >Peter Richardson
> >
> >> > their respective Fair Cities, whereas "Frisco" is used by ignorant
> >> > outsiders and disdained by native San Franciscans (one of whom
>explained to
> >> > me once that "it's like something someone from Los Angeles would say").
> >> > The only comparable phenomenon I'm personally aware of involves a state
> >> > rather than a city: only New  Yorkers call New Jersey "Jersey.")
> >
> >> >Peter McGraw
> >>
> >> Peter has spoken the truth, natives don't call it Frisco.  Sometimes you
>hear
> >> San Fran, on the Peninsula, though, you hear "The City" (which is the
>moniker
> >> for many major cities in their surrounding areas).
> >>
> >> Andrea
> >>