Nero Wolfe; was Re: Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.

[Barbara Need]

I meant this to go to the listserv:

I went straight for _Some buried Caesar_ (1938), since I knew it
began with Wolfe in the back seat of the car. Indeed, the first
paragraph says "that when the car was in motion he always had his
feet braced and kept a firm grip on the strap". I also seem to recall
at least one reference to him sitting in the middle of the back seat
holding onto both straps!

Barbara Need
UChicago--Linguistics

>For the life of me I cannot remember anyone calling the damned things
>anything at all.
>
>This is perhaps due to the fact that in my youth my father could only afford
>to drive Plymouths, and you only found these straps on higher priced cars.
>
>I do remember a reference to them in one of Rex Stout's Nero Wolf novels in
>which Wolf held onto one for dear life since he was mortally afraid of any
>form of machinery and was convinced that every automobile was about to
>crash.
>
>If anyone has the energy to read the entire series of Nero Wolf novels -- a
>delightful experience -- they might be able to date this reference.
>
>Page "too poor to afford a car with a strap" Stephens
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 9:02 AM
>Subject: Re: Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.
>
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>  Subject:      Re: Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.
>>  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-----
>>
>>  Thanks, Mark.  That's a new one.
>>
>>  The first of these that I encountered was "shit handle," in 2000.  My
>source, an emeritus professor, assured me he had heard it during WWII.
>>
>>  I have no confirmatory evidence that any of these terms was in use so
>early as that, but as Dayton Allen used to say, "WHHHHHHYYYYY NOT?"
>>
>>  JL
>>
>>  "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail
>header -----------------------
>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  Poster: "Mark A. Mandel"
>>  Subject: Re: Grab-handle or Strap in Car, etc.
>>  --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-----
>>
>>  For me, occasionally and once upon a time, the "oh-my-God bar". But I
>can't
>>  remember where I heard it.
>>
>>  -- Mark A. Mandel
>>  [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>>
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