"Silicon" (geog.)

[Bethany K. Dumas]

On Fri, 13 Jul 2001, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

>Silicon" sounds funnny to me too, but the rule ("ALWAYS THOSE DAMN
>RULES!) must be something like:
>
>"Preserve the head in compound ellipses unless the pragmatics demands
>otherwise."
>
>Apparently, "The Valley" is not predictable enough (especially
>perhaps since there are other California "Valleys" alrady known as
>"The Valley"), so the nonhead constituent prevails.

I grew up  with "the Valley" in SE Tx = the Rio Grande Valley. In
Arkansas, I would ocasionally say that and everybody wanted to know WHICH
valley,

My mother moved to Knoxville about 8 years ago from Texas - she shortens
"Kingston Pike", our major e-w non-interstate throughway to
"Kingston," instead of "the Pike," as some older locals do. Since there is
a nearby town called "Kingston," this produces puzzlement occasionally. I
don't suppose "Pike" was in her vocabulary before she moved here.

Bethany