spaldeen

[David Colburn]

> David Colburn writes
> ' so this is only evidence that "spaldeen" is widely known,'
>
> .......No, it isn't the "only evidence." Perhaps I should have dated &
> located my earlier posting.  We used this expression in Nebraska in the
> '30s, for that same rubber ball.
> A. Murie

Ah, but I didn't say "this is the only evidence" that spaldeen is widely
known. Adding that little "the" alters the meaning of my sentence, and
alters it to something that I don't believe and didn't mean to imply. I
agree that we are swimming in evidence that the balls were called "spaldeen"
by a lot of people, especially but not exclusively in (parts of?) New York
City. My point was a narrower one, about what we can deduce from the
"spaldeen" that I am pretty sure I saw printed on balls at a drugstore a few
years back. It wasn't an important point, to be sure.  Sorry for being
unclear about what I was trying to say.

Cheers,
David Colburn