Southland

[Jerome Foster]

As a student at UCLA 1947-8 I remember Southland being used in the
newspapers but I never heard it used in ordinary speech. I came to LA from
NYC and like another commentator on this list I  had only heard it used to
refer to "the deep south," Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and thereabouts...

Jfoster


----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 9:50 AM
Subject: Re: Southland


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Southland
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> At 11:35 AM -0500 6/12/03, Joan Houston Hall wrote:
> >The earliest citation DARE has found so far for "Southland," meaning
> >Southern California, is from 1988.  I'm sure it goes back at least to the
> >sixties; can any of you westerners give dated recollections of the use of
> >the term?  Actual early citations would also be very welcome.
> >
> I can't give a cite, but just the distinct recollection that
> "Southland" was already current when I moved to LA in 1966.  I found
> it hard to accept, since "Southland" had always designated 'Dixie' to
> me before then.  I recall it being used mostly in news headlines, not
> ordinary colloquial usage; in this respect it differs from, say "Bay
> Area".  (A similar journalese designation might be "Chicagoland".)
>
> Larry