Thomas Edison, how could you?

[Alice Faber]

Mark A Mandel said:
>On Thu, 22 Aug 2002, James A. Landau wrote:
>
>#Joanne "J. K." Rowlings used this technique in "The Prisoner of Azkaban" to
>#generate the name for a bus driver: "Stan Shunpike".  The name was effective
>#at least partly because of its very archaism.  (It was also descriptive: Mr.
>#Shunpike avoided the main roads and drove cross-country.)
>
>That's not her invention. I learned it from my dad, another logophile.
>It means a route used to avoid paying toll, such as taking the exit just
>before the tollbooth (given an appropriate toll structure). ... Ah. OED
>doesn't know it, but AHD4 does, so it's probably an Americanism:
>
>N. A side road taken to avoid the tolls or traffic of a turnpike.
>Intr.v. To travel on side roads, avoiding turnpikes. [shun + (turn)pike]
>

My father also used this term, in the 50s, interchangeably, I
believe, with "toll-dodging", which will be, forever, my only
association with Tuckahoe, NY.

For what it's worth, my sister lived for several years in Millbrook
and Clinton Corners, NY. A nearby through road, near the Taconic
State Parkway, is called the Shunpike. A google search turns up a
bunch of hits, the most entrancing of which is
<http://www.dutchesswinetrail.com/direction.html>; the Shunpike
itself is Rt 57 on the following map ,
http://www.dutchesswinetrail.com/map.html>.

--
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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203) 865-8963