blacktop/macadam

[Peter Richardson]

> > "blacktop".  I haven''t heard "blacktop" in years.  Was it
> > a regionalism?  Or was it a victim of technological change,
> > as there no longer is any great supply of gravel or dirt
> > roads left to be "blacktopped"?
>
> The term wasn't limited to Kentucky. I recall it growing up in southern New
> Jersey. I also haven't heard it for years, but I don't know whether that is
> because the term is fading or because I just haven't noticed its use.

Same for Illinois in the 50s. I wouldn't blink a toad's eye if I heard it
today, though, even if it might sound odd to others. My mother,
incidentally, would have said "macadam," even if that's strictly something
different from blacktop/asphalt. (She was from Portland, where there's
still a street named Macadam--whether after the famous Scot or not, I
don't know, but I doubt it was named after its material; just imagine "I
live on Concrete Street.")

PR