Geographical euphemisms?

[Baker, John]

        Dutch auction, in the descending-price auction sense, is an important financial and economic term, such that if there ever were an alternative meaning (which I doubt), it has disappeared today.  It's listed in the OED (under auction), but no quotes are given.  Here's one from 1834:

>>Then comes the act of 1798, which contains the enactments before quoted, and besides them, these others.--That the Sheriff should set up the whole tract of land, liable for taxes, by way of Dutch auction, and strike off so much to the person who offered to take the smallest number of acres for the sums to be raised.<<

Avery v. Rose, 4 Dev. 549, 15 N.C. 549 (N.C. 1834).

        I haven't seen the 1798 statute referred to in the quote, but I suspect that it describes the method of sale rather than using the descriptive term Dutch auction.


        It's interesting to note how many of these geographical euphemisms are pejorative.  Are there any true ironyms (which Dutch auction, of course, is not, since it really is an auction) that are not pejorative?


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: Laurence Horn [mailto:laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 12:36 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Geographical euphemisms?


>         Actually, a Dutch auction is a descending-price auction,
>with several variations in practice.  It derives from the auction
>system used in the Netherlands to auction tulips.  It is believed to
>produce higher prices than traditional ascending-price auctions, at
>least in some contexts.
>
>John Baker
>

Thanks for the correction.  My entry was part of a group of
anti-Dutch slurs dating to the Herring Wars from the Victorian era
Farmer & Henley _Slang and its Analogues_.  I wonder if they got it
wrong, if there always were two different senses/uses of "Dutch
auction", or if the sense has changed.  Anyone know?

Larry

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Laurence Horn [mailto:laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
>Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 10:51 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: Geographical euphemisms?
>
>
>Here are a few, some overlapping with the above or with other posted
>nominees, from a paper ("Spitten Image") I've submitted to _American
>Speech_:
>
>[snip]
>
>Dutch auction:  a sale at minimum prices
>
>[snip]
>
>In the paper, I dub these "ironyms".
>
>Larry