Slang of the 1870s

[Lynne Murphy]

George Thompson said:
>        With regards to "boarding house reach": I notice that RHHDAS does
>not trace it before 1947, and gives as the earliest quotation the
>same passage as I posted, but attributes it as having been found in a
>compilation published in that year by Benjamin Botkin.  RHHDAS notes
>that the passage in Botkin was referring to the early 1900s.  My
>dating, the 1870s, is closer to the mark.
>         I heard the phrase "boarding house reach" from my father, probably a
>few years after 1947.  He would have lived in boarding houses from
>time to time in his rootless youth.  He explained that at a boarding
>house table one had to be prepared to grab fast and far if one wanted
>a choice piece of food, or, perhaps, any food at all.

I used to hear "boarding house manners" a lot from a beau (who did
some of his growing up in a boarding house in Toronto in the 1970s)
as a way of explaining/apologizing for his tendency to inhale food
and not use a napkin.  I'm not sure if that's lexicalized as well, or
just his phrase.

Lynne
--
M. Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 3AN    UK
phone:  +44(0)1273-678844
fax:    +44(0)1273-671320