childhood rhymes

[Jonathan Lighter]

My lovely wife informs me that in her Brooklyn/Queens childhood they were called "pink rubber balls" when specificity was called for.

JL

Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jesse Sheidlower
Subject: Re: childhood rhymes
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On Sun, Aug 01, 2004 at 06:09:17PM -0400, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
> >Just for the sake of accuracy: We always "pronounced the g."
>
> But Jerome Foster and Mark Mandel (if I understood him right) remember
> "spaldeen" without the "-ng".
>
> Another peculiarity: RHUD gives the pronunciation of "spaldeen" with
> last-syllable stress! Does this match the recollections of the list folks?

Yes, that's how _spaldeen_ is pronounced. And I must say that I
am shocked, shocked that Dr. Lighter never heard the term in
his time here! Perhaps he should have got out to Brooklyn more....

Jesse Sheidlower
OED


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